What I Can Be
by Death101- Fox Version
Summary: Perhaps sending Kurama and Tsukino on this mission wasn't the best idea. The Fox's Rose is tricky, and the fact that she seems to know his past doesn't help. But it is too late to take back what I've done. I just hope Kurama chooses the best path. Rated 14A
1. Starting the Mission

**A/n: This is the redo of TIHYRM, the second story in the Nickelback Series. The first few chapters will show no real changes but the plot will be different later on.**

_Disclaimer: Let's wait and see what I own, for now, I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Nickelback._

* * *

_Recap:_ Oshiro and King Enma were finally defeated but the price was a high one. The team had to watch as one of their friends went to prison for indirectly killing two humans. Slowly, their hope of her returning is starting to fade until they get the call.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter One  
****Things NEVER Go As Planned**

Decisions are the hardest thing to make when your emotions get in the way, thought a man while sitting in a shelter.

A flash of lightning lit up the shelter and with a sigh the man stood up and walked deeper into the shelter. The roar of the thunder followed him down the tunnels even after he was no longer able to see the lightning. As he walked he brushed his damp brown hair from his sea-green eyes as he surveyed the six doors before him.

Three would lead to a maze from which no one but the creators could escape. One would lead to demon eating plants and another would lead to a pit of treasures and many traps. Finally, the last door on the left would lead to where he, his partner, and his friend, for lack of a better word, were staying.

As the man started walking down the far left tunnel he silently wondered about the relationship between him and the batty-cat and whether it was safe to continue the relationships. To say it was complicated would be an understatement, but with this man things often were.

With a start, the man realized that he was at the door to her room. For a moment, he stood with his hand on the doorknob. From behind the door he heard a pen moving along paper and the rustling of turning pages. He found himself debating whether to enter and talk to the being who dwelled inside.

Finally, he decided against it and continued down the hall. He would talk to her later, he promised himself.

After a few moments he stopped in front of another door and entered without thinking. A room of chaos greeted him. Plants, used to the darkness of the tunnels, crawled over the walls while broken treasures littered the floor. Gracefully making his way across the floor to the simple and yet expensive desk, the man paused only to listen to his plants drink the acid rain which fuelled their growth. If anyone other than himself or those he considered allies entered the room, the plants wouldn't hesitate to use the acid collected from the rain to melt the skin off the intruder's bones.

Not giving the plants a second look, the man sat down at the desk. Using a piece of flint and another of steel, he lit the slightly dented lamp and reached for a book and a pen. Hopefully here he would find the answers he needed so that he would know whether to continue the relationship or not.

Things were too dangerous for him to make another mistake.

* * *

Second Mission after Demon World Tournament  
Day One

The moment Koenma contacted us, Yusuke, and I rushed to Spirit World. Kazuma wanted to join us, but unfortunately had been unable to abandon his job in Human World. Once Yusuke and I were comfort sitting on the couch that had suddenly appeared in Koenma's office, the young king informed us of his plan to save Tsukino.

"We can do something similar to what we did for you and Hiei," he explained calmly. "Tsukino-san will join you for a mission, and then spend a few weeks in Human World to prove that she is safe."

Yusuke punched the air in joy. "That's awesome!"

Koenma solemnly nodded and said, "I've already sent George to get her."

If possible, Yusuke looked even happier and ready for a fight. "So what mission are we going on? Another rogue demon or something?"

Koenma's face suddenly darkened. "I'm afraid that it isn't that simple, Yusuke. Since all the demons are behaving it's been hard to find a mission that Tsukino-san would be able to join you on. The only one I was able to find is a gamble."

"In what way Koenma?" I quietly asked. When we first entered the room Koenma did not seem as proud as he should have been at finding a way to save Tsukino. Instead, he was calm, quiet, and slightly concerned as if he was worried we would not be able to handle the mission.

Taking a deep breath, Koenma hesitantly said, "The mission will take place in Demon World where there are still some demons who want you as well as Hiei dead for being traitors to the demon race."

Yusuke frowned. "We can take them."

Koenma glared at him out of the corner of his eyes. "That's easy for you to say Yusuke. You're a level S whereas Kurama is only a level A, barely in his human form, and he has managed to make a handful of other level S demons angry at him for past mistakes."

Yomi's name came to my mind but I pushed the thought out of my mind as I urged Koenma to continue. "Those demons have been after my life for many years Koenma, and with Yusuke joining me surely we can handle any attack."

Koenma shook his head. "That's just it. Only you and Tsukino-san will be going on the mission."

Yusuke's eyes widened and then narrow as he gave Koenma an angry look. "What do you mean, only Kurama? What about Kazuma, Hiei, and me?"

Koenma seemed a bit uncomfortable as he fidgets in his chair. "Hiei refused to have anything to do with the mission, and I can't force him. He's **now** officially off probation, but he will be around if you need help."

"What about Kazuma and me?" Yusuke repeated.

"This mission is taking place in Demon World and requires stealth. We can both agree that stealth is not your or Kazuma's style and besides, you both have jobs that you can't avoid."

"What about Kurama? He has a job too."

"But I can disappear for months on 'business trips'," I told Yusuke.

"Still. You can't expect me just to let you two waltz off into Demon World to go who knows what. What will happen if you two get into trouble?"

"I can assure you that we will take every precaution to avoid danger, Yusuke."

"And besides, Kazuma's honour code doesn't allow him to fight girls," Koenma added.

Yusuke and I turned to face Koenma. A look of confusion on Yusuke's face, and a slightly interested look on mine.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Koenma sighed again. "The thief is a female demon that Demon World has named, 'The Fox's Rose'. We don't know anymore than that. Your job will be to apprehend her and bring her to Spirit World."

Yusuke frowned. "Why?"

Koenma glared at him. "I already told you. Because this was the only mission I could find and Spirit World needs her captured. Every person we've sent to far to find her hasn't. Hopefully Kurama and Tsukino-san will have more luck."

"What'd she do?"

"She managed to get into the vault and steal the remains of the Forlorn Hope."

"But why steal the remains of the Forlorn Hope? It's useless now," I comment.

Koenma shrugs. "Why did she steal the Mirror of Desire which was also broken?"

Horrible memories of fleeing and betrayal try to enter my mind, but I ignore them as I ask, "What else has she stolen?"

Koenma shrugs. "So far that's it."

"So Kurama has to take Tsukino-chan to Demon World, find this chick, and bring her back to Spirit World?" Yusuke asked.

Koenma nodded. "That is the basic idea."

"How is he supposed to do that without her realizing that he is a spirit detective and making a run for it? Every demon knows what his demon form and human form look like."

"I'll simply have to wear a disguise I suppose," I said quietly.

Koenma nodded and shouted at a passing ogre to take me to the 'make-up' ogres. "George and Tsukino-san won't be here for many more minutes so it might be a good idea for you to get into your disguise so we can test its effectiveness," he explained before allowing me to leave the room.

With a nod, I left the room and followed the ogre down the pink coloured hallways. For some reason, I couldn't help but be worried. Ogres were not known for their sense of fashion after all.

Now a few minutes later, I return to Koenma's office, feeling rather odd. After so many years of remaining human, I had forgotten the numbing feeling of my true form. Everything around me felt dull, not worthy of my notice. Even the news of Tsukino arriving soon filled me only with a second of anticipation before the numbness took over again. To slightly quote a famous book, the joys of 'having the emotional range of a teaspoon.'

"Nice hair Kurama," Yusuke comments as I enter the room. "I see that you dyed your tail and ears to match."

I ignore him and turn to Koenma. "Will I be forced to remain in this form the whole time I'm in Demon World?" I ask in the deeper and calm voice of my true form.

Koenma nods. "Yes, the disguise will only last as long as you are in your demon form."

I dimly feel confusion as I state, "I can only remain in this form for a few hours."

Koenma nods. "Which is why you have to eat these." He handed me a bottle of pills. "They will give your demonic energy a boost so that you can remain in your demon form. Just take one a day and you should be fine for three months."

"I hope it won't take that long."

Koenma shrugs. "It never hurts to be prepared."

I nod and suddenly hear the sound of feet running to the office and catch the scent of fear. "Something's coming," I mutter, trying to communicate the forbidding feeling I'm sensing.

No one seems worried.

"It's probably just George with Tsukino-chan," Yusuke comments.

At that moment, the door is burst open revealing a panting George. "Koenma-sama!" he says as he enters the room. "She's…"

He falls silent as we all look at the person in his arms.

"Tsukino-san," I mutter as I feel fear and anger creep into my mind. Before the numbness took over again, I promised myself that whoever had harmed her was going to pay.

I'm not the only one wishing to avenge her.

"Okay, whose butt do I have to kick for this!" Yusuke demands to know as I take Tsukino from George and lay her on the couch.

"Ogre! I want an explanation!" Koenma shouts.

George nods and says, "It was the ogres down at the prison. They received orders to beat her for some reason."

"Who authorised that?"

George pauses before saying, "The late King Enma. Apparently, he ordered that if any of you," he motions to Yusuke and I, "or any of your friends were placed in the prison you were to be beaten."

My fox side causes me to let out a small growl. "It appears King Enma has succeeded in getting his revenge," I mutter savagely.

Yusuke and Koenma nod.

"If that guy wasn't already stuck behind a barrier I would kill him!" Yusuke shouts angrily. "That coward, taking out his anger on her. She wasn't even there when we busted Sensui!"

Koenma wastes no time in muttering angrily about his father. Instead he orders George to fetch Botan to heal Tsukino. Botan arrives within seconds and gets to work healing. It is around that time, that we notice Tsukino's wings.

"Hey, weren't those red before?" Yusuke asks as he points at her wings.

For a moment, I stare at her wings in confusion and then fear starts to appear at the edge of my mind. I nod. "Yes."

"Why are they black now?"

I shake my head. "They aren't black; they are a dark blue that only appears black."

Yusuke scowls. "Still, why did they change colour?"

I refuse to answer and Koenma pales.

"Her ears and tail are black now too. You sure you got the right girl, George?"

George nods, and Koenma gulps as my fear grows.

Yusuke looks between us before accusing us. "Spill guys."

"I think she's reached the second stage," the young king says.

Yusuke stares in confusion. "Second stage?"

Koenma nods. "Let's wait for her to wake up. If I'm correct, I'll tell you then."

We nod and wait for Botan to finish healing our friend.

It has been twenty minutes since Botan has finished healing Tsukino, and it is only now that the demon is started to move around.

Finally, she opens her eyes. She looks around in confusion.

"Hey Kitty-bat, how you feeling?" Yusuke asks gently.

I sense something is wrong as she stares at Yusuke. Instead of looking at him in recognition, she seems frightened. Her eyes are wide, and she seems to want to back away from him but the couch is stopping her.

"I bet you thought we were going to leave you there, did you?" Botan asks happily, not noticing the look in her eyes.

"I do not think she understands you," I say slowly.

Yusuke stares at me in amusement. "Yeah right. Tsukino-chan, you understand me right?"

She doesn't answer and stares at him in confusion. She tries to back away again.

"What's going on Koenma? Why doesn't she recognize us?" Yusuke demands to know.

Koenma sighs. "I was afraid of this. She has reached the second stage."

"Second stage? Of what?" Botan asks.

He sighs, but I explain before he can. "Mixed breeds like Tsukino go through stages when their genes start to destroy themselves," I passively state.

"What?" Yusuke cuts in.

"Her genes are killing her because of the difference in the animals the demons were based on. Her spirit energy isn't able to adapt to her body due to the conflicting genes so the less she uses it the better. The more she uses it, the more stress it is on her body. Unfortunately, while she was staying with us, she used her energy quite a bit. Also emotional stress causes her genes to conflict even more do to the fact that each animal has a different way to deal with the stress."

"How can you say that so calmly!" Yusuke demands to know.

I ignore him, and Botan asks:

"You mentioned stages, how do you know this is the second one?"

Koenma sighs sadly. "In the first stage, the demon would appear perfectly healthy but have lost a few memories of themselves. The second stage is where the demon loses some more of their memory but also loses some abilities. Tsukino-san has lost the ability to speak in human tongues. Kurama could probably communicate with her if he tried talking like a fox. She also probably cannot hear as well now."

"What about the other stages?" Yusuke asks.

I look towards her, and briefly feel concern. "Stage three is where the demon's energy can't adapt to the body at all and tries to escape. This makes the demon very tried and usually is very painful. The fourth stage is where the demon falls into a coma, and the fifth stage is death. The start of each stage is signalled by the change of colour of some of her physical features."

Botan also looks over at Tsukino who is staring at us almost as if she was listening to us. "Is there a way to reverse it?"

I do not answer, and Koenma shrugs. "I'm not sure," he says. "The library might have something, but I don't have the time to look through it."

Yusuke suddenly perks up. "Where's your library?"

"Second door on the left but-"

Before Koenma can finish his sentence Yusuke has disappeared in the direction of what I assume to be the library. As he runs, he calls over his shoulder for Koenma to call Kazuma to help him.

"Is there anyway to bring back her memories at least a bit?" I ask after a moment. The mission will be very difficult to complete if she doesn't remember anything at all.

Koenma shrugs. "May if she had a written account of meeting you and the others but-"

Suddenly Botan runs out the door. "I'll be right back!" she shouts over her shoulder.

Koenma sighs as Botan disappears while I look at the door in dim curiosity of Botan's plan.

"Perhaps you should try to explain the situation to her," Koenma said after a moment.

I hesitate before answering. For whatever reason, I dislike the idea of Tsukino not knowing who I am. "I don't think there are any words in the animal language to explain this," I say slowly.

Koenma shrugs. "Introduce yourself at least."

"Later."

He frowns. "Kurama, you are going to be stuck with her until you apprehend The Fox's Rose. If we can't get her to remember you at all, it would be better if she has a bit of trust in you."

I hide the shiver that runs down my spine at those words. It was hard enough to get her to trust me the first time and even then, near the end, she seemed so distant.

"Let's see if she remembers me first," I say finally.

He nods, and we wait for Botan to return and inform us of her plan. Tsukino seems to sense the tension in the room and tries to distract herself by playing with her tail. The display amuses me and almost causes a small smile to come to my face. The less powerful human side of me dimly makes me hope that Tsukino won't be as distant as before after she remembers. It was painful the way she looked at me at the last celebration as if she knew every detail of my past life and hated me for it. Botan had tried to explain that it wasn't anything I did, but I wish I knew what caused that look.

Perhaps, on this trip I'll learn what my mistake was and be able to fix it. But that will only happen if Tsukino remembers me.

Hurry up Botan.

* * *

The Diary of a Mixed-Breed  
Memories Come

My reason for recording this is the same as my reasons for the past manuscript I made. If I lose my memory or sanity, this might be the only thing to remind me of what I lost. It worked the first time so I'll just have to hope it works a second time.

I woke up one morning in an office surrounded by people. One was a demon with gelled black hair and brown eyes. Another was a small toddler with a brown hair and brown eyes. And there was also a female with blue hair and pink eyes as well. Finally, there was a tall demon with black fox ears, hair, and tail, and dark blue eyes. While all the others felt somewhat familiar, this man seemed completely foreign to me.

They were talking to each other and tried to talk to me once or twice but I couldn't understand. I tried to tell them that but every time I tried to speak in a human dialect, my tongue tied itself into a knot.

Suddenly the brown eyed demon ran for the door. Moments later the woman followed him. The last demon and toddler were talking about something, and I thought it was me because the demon kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

His gaze appeared lonely and sad but also hopeful. It made me uncomfortable so I started to play with my tail to distract myself. The demon continued to watch, but he seemed amused by my actions. The change from lonely to amused made me feel better so I continued to play with my tail. More than once, I considered trying to talk again, but I always stopped myself. It was probably a better idea to make them think I was dumb so that if they attacked me they wouldn't expect me to be able to fight back.

After a while the lady with blue hair returned and handed me a book. I stared at her in confusion for a moment before she gestured for me to start reading. After a second, I started to.

At first I was surprised that I could even understand, but as the surprise wore off, I slowly realized that the words seemed like something I would say. Then I started to realize that the lady sitting by me matched the woman the author of the book was talking about. I looked over at the toddler and saw that he was just like how I pictured the young prince in the book. Even the man that had run out was in the story.

I started to feel things that weren't mentioned in the story. The thrill of the kiss from the beautiful male's mouth while his old classmates cornered them. The pain of walking away from the office when the sentence was said. The hope at hearing his parting words, and then the pain at knowing he was just pretending.

Everything came back, and suddenly I looked around the office in a new way.

Botan seemed to notice. "Tsukino-chan!" she shouted as she strangled me in a hug.

I tried to tell her that I couldn't breathe but again my mouth was sealed. After a second, I looked over at the demon and made a small mew that meant, 'HELP!'

He seemed confused for a millisecond, but he told Botan to let me go all the same.

"Why didn't you tell me you couldn't breathe?" Botan asked.

"She can't speak in human dialects," the demon said calmly. Something about his voice was familiar.

"Does that mean that she can't understand us?" Koenma asked.

The demon shrugged. "The only way to know is to ask." He walked over, and I hid behind Botan. I hadn't forgotten about the war between dog demons and cat demons.

He seemed amused by my gesture as his blue eyes started to sparkle. "I do not take part in those wars, Tsukino-san. You should know that."

I glared at him over Botan's shoulder to say, 'I don't even know you!'

Again he seemed amused as a small smirk appeared on his face. "She understands us, Koenma."

"But why is she so frightened by you?" Botan asked.

"She thought I took part in the war between dog demons and cat demons."

"But you're a fox demon, Kurama," Koenma pointed out.

I stared at them in shock and confusion. I knew that Kurama had a demon form, but I was pretty sure it had white hair, ears, and tail, and golden eyes.

"It appears that I look dog demon than fox demon then," the demon said. "And I don't think she will believe us unless I transform back."

Koenma shrugged. "You're the one who has to go through getting the disguise again."

The demon seemed to hesitate and then sighed. The next second human Kurama was standing in the office. His hair was back to the same length it was when he fought in the Dark and Demon World Tournaments, instead of being short like it was when I first met him. He smiled kindly in my direction, but I avoided eye contact. I wasn't about to be roped into his tricks. Not this time. Not even if the longer hair did look better on him than the short hair.

He seemed to notice the change in my emotions and didn't try to talk to me further. "I'll be back," Kurama said as he went to leave the room. "I suggest you inform Tsukino-san about the plan so we can leave as soon as possible."

Koenma nodded and then turned to me. "Tsukino-san, you are here because we are giving you the chance to leave the prison."

I nodded.

"To leave the prison, you must go on a mission with one of the detectives, and then spend a few weeks in Human World to prove you are safe."

I nodded again, trying to avoid the feeling of forbidding that was growing in me.

"Do you agree to go on the mission?"

I noticed that he hadn't told me what the mission was and wondered if that was to stop me from refusing right away. For a moment, I was tempted to refuse the unknown mission but then I remembered the beating in the prison and the jobs of Human World. I missed everything about Human World and was starting to believe that my mother was at least half wrong. I still didn't think I was worth saving but those people around me didn't care. They were trying to save me anyways. If they were pretending, they would have left me to rot. But they didn't. They actually cared about me. That being said, I was going to try my best to return to them.

I nodded and sealed my fate.

Koenma sighed in relief but he did not smile or appear happy. "Very well, you will be aiding Kurama in arresting a thief calling herself The Fox's Rose."

And that was where things started to go downhill.

* * *

**A/N: So for those of you who read the first version, there were a few changes. To those of you who didn't, you didn't miss out on much. And to all of you, I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter and look forward to reading more. See ya!**

**-D101**


	2. Kurama Learns A Lesson

_Disclaimer: To be honest, I'm afraid of what could happen if I owned Yu Yu Hakusho. At least I can mess around with the character's head in Fanfiction. Anyways, all I own is my OCs and plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ After a scary few minutes, Tsukino remembers everyone and agrees to go on the mission. She should have asked what the mission was before agreeing though, because now she is stuck with Kurama as they attempt to arrest a thief.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Two  
****Bumpy Start to the Mission**

Leaving Spirit World

Kurama was back within minutes, and we were each given a shoulder bag filled with clothes, food, a small bag of money, and a first aid kit. I felt a shiver run down my spine when the realization hit me as we stood before the portal with Botan. I was going to be stuck with him for who knew how long. Who knew what tricks he would try! And even worse, what if my curse acted up again!

Even though it was hopeless and I couldn't get out of the mission, I turned to Botan and silently begged her not to abandon me. Unfortunately, she mistook my message and patted my head. "Don't worry. You'll be back before you know it. Just don't do anything you'll regret with Kurama," she said before pushing me through the portal.

The trip was through the portal short but still intimidating. We paused for only a second in the space between worlds, and then we were falling just over the City of the Damned. Kurama seemed unworried as his energy increased signalling that he was using it. For a few moments, I allowed myself to fall beside him just to make sure that he didn't hit the ground. (If he had died, it would have been difficult to explain to Koenma.) I didn't have to worry though. Within seconds, he had stopped falling as he grew a pair of wings of his own. I opened my own wings and flew over to him, confused by the appearance of his wings until I realized that they were really just purple leaves held to him by vines to create a glider.

"The City of the Damned is where The Fox's Rose stole the Mirror of Desire from. It would be wise to look around before moving on," he muttered as he looked around.

I nodded and pointed to a small patch of forest where we could land.

It took Kurama a few tries to understand what I was trying to tell him, but eventually he understood.

Silently, we glided over to the forest. Once we were on the ground, Kurama allowed his plant to shrink back into a seed before leading the way to the city. The purple trunks and green leaves of the trees lined the path, and I felt myself longing for the trees in the parks of Human World. I hadn't seen the world for over a year and was impatient to get back. I wanted to see how everyone was doing and just be able to live my life without having to look over my shoulder in fear. After a moment of thinking about Human World, I shook myself from my thoughts. It was never going to happen if we didn't finish the mission first, I told myself.

Subtly, I looked over at Kurama out of the corner of my eye. He was silently staring at the path in front of us with a determined but thoughtful frown on his lips. His ears were moving around, alert for any sign of danger while his eyes betrayed nothing. Suddenly he stood a bit straighter and, without looking towards me, said, "Koenma told me to warn you that if would be unwise for you to use your energy in any way."

I raised my eyebrows to ask why.

He didn't even look to see my reaction but probably sensed it because he answered accordingly. "Your body is still healing from the beating you experienced at the prison. It wouldn't be wise to put more stress on it."

There was a slight sound of anger in his voice, but it was hard to tell if I had just imagined it or if he was angry. Slowly, I nodded. Even after Botan's healing I had been feeling weaker than usual, but I had thought that I would still be able to use my energy should I get into trouble. Silently, I thanked Yusuke and Kuwabara for teaching me some street fighting moves while I was staying with them. At least I had a back-up plan.

It appeared that Kurama wasn't finished speaking. As he pulled out a file from his bag, he added, "Also because I'm a well-known spirit detective, Koenma took the time to make me a new identity. You'll have to call me Kyou, and I'm from the North. We met at the Yami Inn while I was travelling to the City of Ghost and Apparitions."

I nodded, and he continued speaking.

"Koenma decided that it would also be a good idea to give you a new identity because everyone in the area where you lived thought you had died when you crossed over."

I nodded again, not really paying attention but wondering what my story would be.

"He's letting you make up most of the details, but the folder he has on you, in case any one asks him for a background check, says that your name is Tama, and you are from the East. Is that alright?"

I shrugged. It wasn't like I had a say in it anyways since I couldn't speak, and Kurama would be doing all the talking anyways.

He turned to face me, and I looked away. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw that though his face remained impassive, his voice was slightly concerned. "You dislike the plan?"

I shook my head and shrugged. I could care less about the plan just as long as I got away from him as soon as possible.

Kurama turned to look at the road again, and his shoulders subtly stiffened as he said, "Since we are travelling partners, it wouldn't make sense for us to be on unfamiliar terms. It would draw suspicion and cause problems."

I nodded as I looked away from him to study something in the top of the trees. It looked almost like another kitty-bat, but the shape moved before I could be sure if it was even a demon and not leaves.

He sighed and out of the corner of my eye I saw that he had stopped walking and was watching me. "Tama-chan, are you even listening to me?"

I stopped walking, wondering why he had called me Tama-**chan** until the reality of what he meant about being on familiar terms hit me. My plan had been to keep as much distance between us as I could, but, once again, Kurama was at least a step ahead of me. It seemed like nothing had changed from my time in Human World other than location and his appearance.

Annoyed, I ignored him and started to walk towards the city again, knowing that we had a long walk before me. For a moment, I debated flying. It would be faster than walking after all. The forest we had landed in was not far from the city (only a mile away), but we would have had to take a scenic route to avoid trouble. Even if I was to fly overhead there was no guarantee that there weren't other demons who could fly and attack me.

While I was walking and debating, Kurama realized that he wasn't going to get an answer of any form and quickly caught up with me. "I apologize for offending you, Tama-san," he said lowly, attempting to sound sincere.

I was tempted to be stubborn as my cat demon blood urged me to be, but my bat demon blood caused me to think twice. My bat demon blood was stubbornly screaming at me to work with him and get the job done. It was like having a shoulder devil and angel except instead of being told what to do, my blood was physically moving from side to side arguing. Even in my brain, the blood was moving around making the world spin. One can imagine how hard that made it to walk so it should come as no surprise that I managed to trip over nothing.

It looked like I was going to hit the dirt when one of Kurama's arms grabbed my arm and his other my waist and helped steady me.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Even if I had a voice to reply with, I would have been silent. I hadn't noticed how much he had really changed. His eyes, which I had been avoiding, still had a bit of the humanity that he had gained over his time in Human World, but they also seemed far colder, distant even. His hair had not only changed colour but the style as well. In his human form, Kurama's hair stuck up at the back near the base of his neck even with his short hair. However, in his disguise, his hair fell flat along his neck. His hair was also much longer now. I had already noticed that his voice was deeper and more distant, but I had failed to notice the change in his energy. As I had told Botan before, his energy I couldn't feel, I had to sense, but then I could feel it slightly. It felt like a whirlwind of leaves. The energy gently hit you in waves and then fell to the ground, but as soon as the first wave fell, a second one bumped into you.

I suddenly realized that Kurama had put his hand that was holding my arm on my forehead and was frowning.

"You're warm," he stated.

I nodded, unsure of what else I could do. Slowly, I realized that Kurama was still holding me and tried to pull away from him. I only succeeded in almost falling again, and Kurama held me.

"Perhaps we should return to Spirit World so you can further recover from the beating."

I furiously shook my head, which only increased the dizzy feelings that my fighting blood had caused. Despite my cat demon pride, I found myself needing to lean on Kurama as he stared down at me.

"If you aren't well, we can wait to catch The Fox's Rose," Kurama said as he adjusted his grip on my waist, so that if anything attacked us, he would be able to support me and fight. His face was slightly red, I noticed. If I didn't know better, I would say that he was blushing.

I felt a blush starting to appear on my face when I realized how close we were, and I looked away. The last thing I needed was my curse acting up again.

"Tsukino-san, you're only going to be a burden if you insist on continuing."

I knew that he was only stating the facts, but I still felt angry at his implications about me being useless. Also, if we waited until I was 'well' again, we would probably never find The Fox's Rose, and I would be stuck with Kurama. In an act of stupidity, I pushed away from me and started walking towards the City of the Damned again. I tripped again, and Kurama caught me. Again.

"Tsukino-san."

I didn't have to look at him to know that he was glaring at me. It was probably a good thing that I didn't look or else I would probably still be in Spirit World. I shook my head determinedly, and tried to walk off again. When Kurama didn't let me, I tried to figure out how I could explain my thoughts.

"We **can** afford to wait to find her," Kurama said as stubbornly as I was acting.

I shook my head once again, no longer feeling dizzy as my cat and bat demon blood agreed that I had to see this through and I wasn't going anywhere.

"The Fox's Rose is bound to find something else to steal at a later date," Kurama said.

Not quite meeting his eyes, I tried to send him a message of 'And if she never steals again?' by narrowing my eyes and rolling them.

It took Kurama a moment to figure out what I was 'saying' but once he did, he sighed. "You aren't going to be swayed, are you?"

I looked over to the trees waiting for him to come to a decision. Regardless of what I thought, it was his opinion that mattered in the end since he could easily just drag me anywhere he wanted.

Finally, he sighed and released me. "Very well, we'd better hurry if we want to get any work done before dark."

I nodded and followed him, no longer having any trouble walking.

Kurama walked beside me and, after a few moments, asked, "How am I to address you?"

Bravely, I took his hand in mine to show that we should pretend to be close. I had expected that I would not be able to feel his pulse, but unlike normal demons, I could still feel his human heart beating.

Kurama stared at me for a moment before he nodded. We continued on our way to the city, but he didn't release my hand nor did he speak until we reached the outskirts of the city. Cautiously, he stopped walking, released my hand, and then said, "It's going to be too late to travel any farther tonight if we can't find The Fox's Rose here so we'll have to find an inn. Do you mind looking for one while I ask about The Fox's Rose?"

I nodded and started to walk into the city. Before I entered, Kurama grabbed my hand and quietly said:

"Meet me by the fountain in the middle of the city in half an hour even if you can't find an inn, alright?"

I nodded again and then started to wander around the city. It wasn't very different from the ones in Human World. Stores lined the streets with some houses in-between, but the colours were duller than the Human World ones. Perhaps it was only because of the hour though. Demons of all kinds wandered the streets either buying things or hanging out. Once or twice, I had to duck into the alleys to avoid getting spotted by any dog demons. Unfortunately, I was unable to find an inn.

Fifteen minutes into my search I was forced to turn around and head towards the fountain. I had hoped that I would find an inn on the way but I didn't. Finally, I arrived at the fountain, which was a cone of water erupting from a hole in the ground. Disliking the idea of getting wet, I tried to keep my distance. As I was dancing around the puddles caused by the fountain, I overheard Kurama's voice. I walked over to where I heard his voice and found him talking with an older looking demon with pointed yellow ears and a hunched back. It appeared that they were disagreeing because as I walked up the old demon was shouting:

"I'm on to your tricks, boy! You think that just because I was stolen from once that you can now just enter my house and take something!"

Kurama seemed to be on his last nerve as he replied, "If I really wanted to take anything, would I be asking for permission to enter your house?"

The demon could think of nothing to say, but then he spotted me. "You want The Fox's Rose?" he asked. "That's her!" He pointed towards me.

Kurama looked over his shoulder and spotted me. His eyes widened in surprised before they narrowed, and he turned back to the old demon. "You must be mistaken, that is my travel partner."

The demon refused to be told otherwise. "Don't think that changing your wings' and ears' colours will fool me," he shouted at me as he ran towards me. "Where is it!"

Kurama quickly moved between the demon and me, stopping the demon from attacking me. I noticed that his energy seemed to be increasing as he said, "Thank you for your time." Kurama turned, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into a crowd of people. He then pulled me over to the alley and pulled out his rose whip.

While he was looking towards the roof, I glared at him, clearly demanding to be told what he was planning.

"We're going to enter the house through the roof, but we have to get up onto the rooftops first," he said as he flicked his rose whip so that it wrapped around something on the roof. "The rose whip is just to keep me balanced." The next second he had wrapped one arm around my waist.

I tried to pull away, but he held me close. "Tama-chan, I can't leave you here alone. There are probably demons who overheard that man's outburst. Do you want to find out what they might do to you?"

I glared at him but moved my arms so that they were linked behind his neck and readied for him to jump.

He tensed and then jumped. We were only in the air for a second, but it was long enough for me to realize that I could have just flown onto the roof. I felt like an idiot for realizing it only then and promised myself that I was flying on the way back down.

Kurama didn't even seem to notice as he walked over to a vent. He started looking through his bag for something. After a few moments, he pulled out a knife and started to open the vent. He almost had the cover off when he motioned for me to come over. "This is going to fall down, and I need you to catch it," he said.

I nodded and readied to grab the vent cover. Before Kurama was even able to put his knife to the vent cover again a voice drifted over to us.

"Replaced me so quickly, Kurama?"

Both Kurama and I stood and turned to face the speaker. It was like looking in a mirror. She was the same height as me, had the same hair, even the same eyes, only I liked to think my eyes were friendlier than hers. The only real difference was the different colours in our wings, ears, and tails. Her wings, ears, and tail were completely white.

She seemed amused but also slightly sad to see Kurama and me. "You could have at least waited to see if I was still interested before moving on," she continued.

Kurama appeared to glare at the demon. "Who are you?" he asked.

This seemed to hurt her even more. "I suppose your memory needs work. But then again, you were never one to remember the name of the girl you slept with." Her eyes looked over at me, and to my surprise, Kurama moved to block me from view. "I suppose this is your new toy. Still like the look of wings, I see?"

I couldn't see Kurama's face, but I could tell that he was irritated by the small talk even if he didn't sound like it as he said, "Answer me."

She sighed. "Everyone calls me The Fox's Rose now, probably because they know of our relationship, but I believe you named me Mikiku. So what's her new name?"

Kurama didn't answer her question but said, "I don't know who you are, but you aren't Mikiku."

She shrugged. "Time changes people. I mean look at you. Twenty-four years and you are as soft as those humans you protect and running around in disguises that fool no one. It's rather sad to think that I was once your mate. Perhaps it was a good thing you mistook one of our conversations and got shot." She sighed and stared at Kurama with mournful brown eyes. "I missed you," she virtually whimpered.

"I'll ask you again, who are you?"

The Fox's Rose- Mikiku- smiled sadly and suddenly appeared in front of him. She then disappeared off the edge of the roof.

Kurama spat and then walked over to the edge of the roof to look for Mikiku. His frown told me that he couldn't see her. "At least we know she is in town," he muttered before turning to face me. "Did you find an inn?"

I shook my head, slightly worried by how he would react in his angered state.

He seemed unconcerned as he nodded and walked over to the edge of the roof. I followed him and then jumped off the roof before he could say anything. I waited about a second before he was on the ground beside me. Then, we started to walk around town looking for an inn.

As we walked I thought over what Mikiku said. It probably wasn't the best idea because it started to fill me with pain. Unfortunately, at that time, I had still been hoping that maybe Kurama wanted me for something more than pleasure but that hoped had been destroyed. Mikiku had proved that hope false. One thing that slightly cheered me though was that Kurama didn't seem very interested in her.

Instantly after thinking that, I felt horrible. Regardless of his feelings for her, it was obvious she still had feelings for him. At the time, I felt some sort of fellow feeling for her. After all, we both cared for someone who didn't truly care about us. I wondered what it would be like to talk with her and almost wanted to speak with her. I wanted to hear her side of the story since I was probably never going to hear it from Kurama.

How wrong I was.

* * *

Day One

Yusuke and Kazuma always said that I was a girl magnet when we were teenagers, but I doubt they ever expected a girl to enter my personal space as The Fox's Rose just did. I had thought that it would be much harder to find her, but it only took half an hour. I could have waited though if it meant avoided Tsukino listening and the horror of The Fox's Rose's lips on mine.

(Note to self: Never ever let a girl enter my personal space **ever again** if I suspect that they are obsessed. The effects are not wanted in the least.)

Now, Tsukino is silent as we walked around for an inn, but it is obvious that she is thinking of what the thief had said. If she believes that demon, we are going to run into trouble. As I have said before, it was hard enough gaining Tsukino's trust in the first place. If I lose it, I'm worried about what I would have to do to regain it.

In any case, we have to catch the thief as soon as possible. I don't know how she learned of my _relationship_, for lack of a better term, with Mikiku, but I refuse to allow her to ruin Mikiku's good name.

Suddenly, I'm aware of Tsukino pulling on the sleeve of my shirt. I look towards her and notice that she is pointing towards the Hikari Bar, which is also an inn. At once I recognize it as the one where Mikiku worked. If that thief was speaking the truth, this would be the place to find her. Not feeling like talking, I nod to Tsukino, and we start to walk towards the inn.

We are just about to enter when a man in a flowing black coat exits smelling of cheap wine. He pauses in the doorway and studies us.

"A nice night is it not?" he asks with a slight Old England English accent.

I stiffly nod, preparing for a random burst of anger that usually accompanies the drink he reeks of.

Casually, he steps out of the doorway and towards us, stumbling slightly.

I stand my ground while Tsukino remains behind me.

"What are you doing out here?" he asks. "It's dangerous out here."

I do not answer but do not move either. It is not wise to provoke drunken demons; they have a tendency to become even more violent. Chu is a good example.

He moves behind my back almost as if he was going to circle us. I turn as well but before I can step in front of Tsukino again, he grabs her hand. Fear radiates from her, and she seems to want to pull away but can't. I'm just about to demand that he remove his hands when he says:

"Such a pretty girl you seem nine." He kisses her hand, and she flinches. When he pulls back, I see that he had bit her hand.

I gently but forcefully pull her away from him and step in front of her. Silently, I wonder why I seem so slow tonight as I growl at him. "Leave," I quietly order him. My voice promises pain if he does not listen.

He shakily bows, but I do not notice. My attention is turned elsewhere as Tsukino suddenly runs into the alleys. Worried for her safety, I run after her. Not only is she in danger of the usual predators, but if anyone mistakes her for The Fox's Rose again… My stomach clenches at the thought, and I try to find her scent through the maze of other smells.

I find her a few alleys away from the inn, silently shaking in fear. Slowly, I approach her as one would a wounded animal in shock. I sit beside her but she takes no notice of my presence. Suddenly, she turns to me, grabs the front of my shirt, and starts to cry. The scent of her fear is overpowering, and I notice that her hand is still bleeding. There must have been something in the demon's salvia that stops her blood from clotting.

Her crying continues, and I slowly move my arms around her, holding her close. "You're alright," I mutter to her as I hold her. "It's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you." My fox side starts growling at me to do more but I suppress it. One of the reasons I never transform into my demon form anymore is because my instincts were more powerful in it. Thank goodness it isn't Hraru.

She does nothing to show that she hears my words, but slowly, her sobs cease. She does not move from the embrace though as if she is scared that she will see that man again.

I do not force her to move other than gently causing her to lift her hand. The bite is still bleeding and appears to be still causing her pain as she tries to move her hand away. Keeping her hand in place, I start to lick the wound to remove the effects of the demon's salvia. Soon, it too stops causing her pain, and she looks away from my shirt. Her face is red, but I cannot tell if it is from crying or something else. Deciding to ignore it, I help her to her feet, and we continue on our search for an inn.

Unfortunately, we have barely moved three feet before we run into a pack of dog demons, three in total. They appear to be from the east due to their brown fur.

"Well, well. It looks like we have a traitor," the one in the middle says as the group approach Tsukino and me.

I keep my face impassive as I calmly state, "I am no traitor."

"A dog flirting with a cat is not allowed," the one on the left counters.

I frown. Perhaps my disguise is too good. "I am a fox." I grab Tsukino's hand and turn to walk in the other direction. We barely get two steps before I feel Tsukino ripped from my grasp. I turn and see that one dog demon is holding her while the other two pull out knives.

It had to be the drugs Koenma gave me. There is no other reason that my senses would be so slow to allow this to happen.

The final dog demon grins shows his fangs. "Since you don't care, you can just watch as we do own part in the war."

Tsukino is struggling and seems to be attempting to use her spirit energy to create a blast of light. (She must have forgotten my warning.)

Before she is able to, I will the grass under the dog demons' feet to become sharp as broken glass. Within seconds they yelp and release Tsukino from their grasp. I grab her arm and quickly pull her away from the scene.

"I think it would be wise to find get off the streets as soon as possible," I mutter to her once we are safely away.

She nods, and we walk off once more, not stopping until we find an inn and not resting until we are behind locked doors.

The first day of a mission is said to be the hardest. I can only hope that is true, and that the drugs allow my senses to work to their full potential again soon. If not, this mission will only become more difficult.

* * *

**A/N: Ah, this feels good. The chapters are flowing better. It isn't a chore to write. All is right with the world… except for the part where Rose kisses Kurama. I'm not even sure where that came from. It just sorta happened, but I'm greatly amused by the fact that he spat right afterwards. Anyways, thanks to those of you who are reading and reviewing. Please continue to do so and I hope that you enjoy the story.**

**-D101**


	3. You're Cheating On Her!

_Disclaimer: For the love of fan fiction! I only own my OCs and the plot!_

* * *

_Recap:_ The first day on the mission was interesting. Kurama learned never to let girls into his personal space when they are fan girls, and they ran into The Fox's Rose. After having their target disappear, the two went in search of an inn.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Three  
Meeting an Elder**

Day Two

When we were in Human World, I found that Tsukino responded positively to me when I acted most human. Partly for that reason, while we were searching for an inn, I kept a comforting arm around her. The other reason I kept my arm around her was that we were walking through a rougher part of the city, and it warned other demons to behave. She didn't seem to care as she kept quite close to me with her eyes carefully looking for signs of an inn.

Eventually, we found an inn in the middle of downtown City of the Damned. Unfortunately, downtown was also the home to the worse groups of demons in the city. I held Tsukino even closer to me as we entered, keeping my eyes on everyone and my ears open for sounds of rising aggression. As I bargained with the greasy aging demon, the drunken demons in the pub adjacent started to become rowdy. A few had spotted Tsukino and started to call to her. Fearing a repeat of what happened with the other drunken demon, I agreed to the price the inn owner suggested and quickly paid.

The next minute we were in our room for the night. Instantly, I collapsed on the bed closest to me. Tsukino walked over to the other bed on the other side of the room and did the same. Without even bothering to put our bags away, we both fell asleep and prepared for the next day of the mission.

Barely five minutes into the second day of the mission, and I can already say that today will be just as difficult as yesterday. I awoke with a piercing migraine and lied still for at least five minutes, hoping that the pain would pass. Unfortunately, it has not. Instead the pain has grown worse. Painfully, I raise my head to look around for my bag for some painkillers. I would have started to wonder what was causing my pain if it didn't hurt to think. Slowly, I start to pull myself out of the moth-eaten covers to look for my bag.

Just as I am about to lift my top half from my bed, a hand appears in my vision. Laying on the center was a small white pill about the size of a American dime. Agonizingly, I turn my gaze upwards to see that Tsukino is holding the pill out to me with a glass of water in her other hand. Through my migraine, I wonder why she was looking so concerned. A strand of my hair falls into my face as I reach for the pill in her hand. As I brush it away, I notice that it is quickly returning to its semi-original red hue. I suppose that my eyes are also changing because Tsukino seems to be coming more concerned as she holds the pill closer to me.

I take the pill from her hand and put it onto my mouth. Ignoring the pain that is stabbing into my brain as I move, I quickly swallow the pill. Instantly, I feel the need to stick my tongue out like a child or gag, but I manage to stop myself. Not only do the pills taste vile, they also make my tongue feel furry.

Tsukino hands me the water, and I gratefully take a sip. Though the water does not completely wash away the revolting taste, it does manage to dull it. Soon, my migraine disappears completely, and I thank Tsukino.

She nods and starts going through her bag looking for something to eat for breakfast.

I'm about to follow her example when the communicator in my bag starts to ring. After a few seconds of digging though my supplies, I open the cover to see the face of Koenma.

"The pills are working I see," he states instantly.

I nod. "We ran into The Fox's Rose last night but she managed to get away."

Koenma nods. "That's not surprising. Did anything else happen?"

The question was innocent enough, but Koenma's tone and expression caused me to pause. Koenma had spoken in the same of-hand way that one uses when one knows something about you but wants you to say it. He was looking at me through the corner of his eyes suspiciously.

"The Fox's Rose is masquerading as a bat cat demon named Mikiku," I finally say.

Koenma nods again, the suspicious look not leaving his face. "And did anything between you two happen?"

Frowning, I take the communicator and go to the washroom. Tsukino does not need to overhear this. "What did Yusuke tell you?" I ask quietly.

Before Koenma can answer, I hear Yusuke shout in the background, "Are you talking to Kurama?"

Koenma's eyes widen at the sound of Yusuke's voice and he turns to face the man. While Koenma is speaking he is waving his hands before him to signal that he has nothing to hide. "Not at all, Yusuke. I would have told you if I was so that you could tell him your message."

Unfortunately, Yusuke either sees the monitor which my image on it in Spirit World, or he doesn't believe Koenma and uses his own communicator to call me. Regardless, now Yusuke is yelling at me through the little mirror.

"What the hell were you going cheating on Tsukino-chan with the girl your supposed to be arresting!?"

I resist the urge to sigh. "I am not cheating on Tsukino-san, Yusuke."

Yusuke scowls. "That kiss didn't look like not cheating to me."

I am about to reply when Kazuma's voice comes from behind Yusuke. "Kurama did what?!" Suddenly, Kazuma is standing by Yusuke and looking over his shoulder. "Kurama, did you honestly kiss a girl?!"

"Well he definitely didn't kiss a man," Yusuke growls before I can defend myself.

Well aware that Tsukino could hear through the walls, I adjust the volume on the pocket mirror and speak quietly. I hope this will be over before Tsukino starts to wonder what I am doing. "I did not kiss anyone nor am I cheating on Tsukino-san."

"You let that chick kiss you!" Yusuke accuses.

Kazuma frowns. "Okay, when did this happen and how drunk was he?"

I speak before Yusuke can twist the facts around to his favour. "I was assaulted last night by The Fox's Rose because-"

Kazuma's eyes widen. "**You** got assaulted?"

I nod. "Yes, last night and-"

"How did **you** get assaulted without being drunk? Unless you were drunk…"

"I wasn't drunk, I was-"

"Then you willingly let her kiss you, and therefore you are cheating on Tsukino-chan," Yusuke suddenly cut in.

"Yusuke, Kazuma, be reasonable," Koenma's voice comes from behind the men, but we ignore him.

"I didn't willing let her kiss me," I say, trying not to become angry though I am failing because of my current demon genetics.

(Demons feel negative emotions more strongly than positive ones. For example, humans feel love more strongly than hate and for that reason they become more powerful when they love rather than hate. Demons however become more powerful when we hate than when we (if ever) love. That is why we are usually quite violent.)

"Then what do you call that kiss?!" Yusuke and Kazuma demand.

"The disguise pills Koenma gave me have affected my reflexes. I was not able to react fast enough to move away and was assaulted."

Yusuke scoffed. "Yeah right, you didn't even have any pills yesterday."

I glare at him. "I had to take a pill in order to make this disguise."

Yusuke's eyes widen and his jaw is slack before he tries to save his failing argument. "You still are cheating on Tsukino-chan!" he says finally.

I ignore him and speak to Koenma, "We will be searching for The Fox's Rose again today. I will call you if we find anything. And Yusuke," I glare at him, "If you call me to say that I'm cheating on Tsukino-san, I will tell Keiko about what could have been 'cheap thrills' back in Tarukane's manor."

Yusuke's jaw slackens once more. "How did you know about-?"

I hang up before he can answer and make my way out of the bathroom.

Tsukino looks up as I enter the room and tilts her head to the side, silently asking what the others wanted.

I explain that I was telling them of our progress and had to talk to Koenma about some side effects the pills had.

She accepts my answer, and after I quickly eat something, we leave the inn and search for a sign of The Fox's Rose.

We check the streets first before looking in through the windows for something she may want to steal. After an hour of searching, we find nothing, and I almost consider going into a nearby bar to listen to the rumours that surely are flying around. I destroy that idea before I allow myself to focus on it. Entering the bar would mean either leaving Tsukino alone outside or having her come in with me. Both ideas brought a sour taste to my mouth.

We continue walking for over an hour with still no clues. At one point, Tsukino had ran off only to reappear with a book and pen. I assumed that the book was for her to communicate with by writing words, but then I saw that the title was 1000 Tales of Murder and Love.

We do not speak until the day is ending, and we still have not seen any sign of The Fox's Rose.

I am just about to suggest that we find another inn to stay at, when Tsukino suddenly hands me the book she had been carrying. She has circled words inside the book and points at them to tell me which order to read them in.

'Maybe she moved?' Tsukino has me read.

Realizing that this is how Tsukino is deciding to communicate with me, I nod. "It is a possibility. Regardless, we can do nothing more tonight. We'd best find an inn and retire for the night."

Tsukino frowns and circles more words. 'Aren't foxes more active at night?'

I nod again. "But so are many other demons. It will be safer to search for her tomorrow. Once we find her, it will be easier to detain her during the day because she will be tired from the night."

She is still frowning but nods, following me towards the inn I saw while we were walking. We only walk for about a block when she hesitantly grabs the back of my tunic, causing me to stop and turn to face her. Again, she hands me the book. 'Maybe it would be better if we split up-'

I do not bother to read the rest of her circled words. Instead, I shake my head. "Too risky."

Tsukino frowns again and then seems to notice something over my shoulder. Her eyes widen in fear, and I quickly turn to see a dog demon walking towards us. A very familiar dog demon. He does not even turn in our direction as he walks by us, but I notice that he watches us from the corner of his eye. Just as quickly as he appeared, the dog demon disappears, and the street is empty except for us.

I turn to Tsukino and grab her hand, quickly dragging her down the street. She does not fight so I assume that she realizes that being on an empty street makes one a prime mugging target.

We reach an inn and quickly check in. Once we are settled, I curiously watch Tsukino attempt to write something in her journal. She seems to be getting frustrated as her face slowly turns red and she grips the pen tightly. Finally, she appears to admit defeat as she goes to place the book and pen into her bag.

"Why did you circle the words instead of writing them?" I ask suddenly.

Tsukino looks over at me in shock, as if she thought I had been asleep. She takes the book out again and circles the words, 'because', 'I', and 'can't'.

I frown, realizing that stage two had affected her more than we had originally thought. "Have you tried writing?" I ask cautiously.

She nods. 'That's what I was trying to do.'

"Show me."

Tsukino hesitates for a second, before she turns the pages of the book until I see the inside cover. Originally, clean and white, the inside cover is now covered in black ink almost as if Tsukino was a child drawing on the wall. Once or twice, I think I see something that is close to a word in Japanese, but it usually is nonsense.

I sigh quietly after looking over her attempt. "I guess we'll have to start over."

Tsukino takes the book back and circles some more words. "Do you think he will be mad that I forgot?"

"You mean Kazuma?"

She nods, silent as always, and I shake my head.

"No, he won't be mad. He knows it's not your fault that you forgot." It was Enma's but I do not say that.

Tsukino does not seem soothed by my words so I take the pen from her and sit down on her bed beside her. "And if you are truly as fast a learner as Kazuma says you were, he'll never have to know."

She stares at me, her head slightly tilted and her mouth twisted into a confused frown.

Ignoring her for the moment, I turn the pages of the book until I come to a blank page. Purposefully, I take the pen and write out the word cat. Then, handing the pen back to her, I say, "Copy it."

Tsukino shakes her head and goes to flip through the book before I grab her arm. She glares at me when I stop her from explaining whatever she was going to say.

"You aren't going to learn if you don't try."

Her eyes narrow even more clearly saying that she had already tried.

"Show me," I urge her.

For a moment, it looks like Tsukino is going to ignore me and turn the pages of the book to explain herself. To my surprise though, she takes the pen and tries to copy the symbols, but for whatever reason she couldn't copy the symbols.

I mentally sigh and take her hand in mine, wrapping my fingers over hers. Looking over her shoulder, I help her to copy the symbols. We continue this until she is able to write cat by herself. Then we move on to other words that would be of use to her. This continues for more than an hour before we finally ready for bed, and I'll admit, I was reluctant to release her hand.

I call Koenma before turning in and inform him that we found nothing of use and need a list of valuable treasures within the area. Koenma promises to deliver, and I turn in.

Day Three

Tsukino and I awake to the sound of one of Koenma's messenger birds tapping on the window. Because of my headache caused by my lack of demonic energy, Tsukino opens the window while I swallow another horrid pill. She then takes the folder from the bird, and it returns to Spirit World. We, on the other hand, return to the streets of the City of the Damned.

After walking around for about two hours, we run into a dog demon. The same demon from yesterday. Except today, he acknowledges our presence. He walks right to us while we stand in front of a fruit booth discussing our best course of action.

"May I have a word with you, young cousin?" he asks quietly in a voice gruff from age. "Alone."

I'm about to refuse when Tsukino tugs on my tunic again. "A moment please," I reply before we distance ourselves a bit.

She hands me the book with her suggestion half written, half circled. 'Talk to him, he might know about Mikiku-san.'

I cannot disagree with her point, but at the same time, it would not be wise to leave her alone. "Will you be safe alone?" I ask carefully.

She frowns. 'Of course. This might be the only chance we have to learn if she is still in town or not.'

I frown but again cannot argue with her. It does not matter because she runs off towards a booth before I can say anything. With a sigh, I turn back to the dog demon though I keep a sharp eye on Tsukino.

Similarly, the elder had been watching us with his blue right eye as we talked; his left one forever sealed with a vertical scar down the middle. Now he watches as I approach; his black tail swishes side to side. In the right light, it shines with the hidden gray streaks that tell his true age of over many millions of eons. "Hello little cousin," he says.

I nod and reluctantly bow, leaving myself open for attack. A sign of trust in canine traditions that was passed on to their demon counterparts. "Hello elder, you wished to speak with me?"

He nods; his hand on his sword. "How long has it been since we have last spoken?"

I frown, worried that he saw through my disguise or is mistaking me for someone else. "I'm afraid you have me confused with another fox or perhaps dog, sir."

He nods again. "Yes, perhaps. It has been a long trip."

"Coming from the North?" I ask as I notice the heavy black fur that covers the elder's body to protect it from not only the cold but also sword strokes.

The elder shakes his head. "Nay, I come from the East. My brother is in the North still mourning over the death of his prized student. Inu always was a foolish one though I cannot say that my own student was not as foolish in his own ways. Silly fox, he was."

Tsukino has vanished from my view, and I start to worry. "I hope that you do not find me disrespectful, elder, but I have not the time to talk. My partner and I are searching for The Fox's Rose and have little time to waste."

He nods. "Of course, little cousin. I apologize for withholding you, but allow me to offer you a bit of advice for your travels. Be wise this time with not your mind but your heart. War is not a pup's game and you will do well to avoid it, yoko."

I nod. "Thank you, but news of The Fox's Rose would be of more use at this time."

"Turn your nose to the wind then. Surely you have not forgotten the secrets of scents. Though I understand it can be hard to use ones nose when an alluring scent such as one's mate in heat is around."

I frown. "I mean no disrespect, but she is not mine. I do not know who her mate even is."

For the first time in the conversation, the elder frowns. "Then you would do well to learn the identity of her mate and challenge him. You came close before, you will come closer still."

Tsukino slips back into my view, and I allow myself to relax a bit. "I'm afraid I do not follow."

The elder shakes his head. "It is of no condition. Just try to avoid the war for my kind is slow to learn new tricks and the cats are growing more cunning. Furthermore, I wish you luck in your mission to learn the identity of her mate and find The Fox's Rose. Perhaps we will meet again."

I bow. "Good travels, elder."

He ruffles my hair. "And to you, young yoko. One last word of warning though, an alluring scent often leads to things you would rather not know of. Kits should be the least of your worries right now."

I frown but do not reply, and the elder quickly disappears into the streets. Almost instantly, Tsukino appears at my side. Her tilted head asks her question for her.

I start walking away from the crowded booths, and she follows. Then without looking at her, I say, "He did not know where The Fox's Rose is but suggested that I try using my nose more. Elders usually say that to growing kits so that we keep our canine ways alive."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her nod and reach for her book. She circles a few words before holding it to me to take.

I shake my head, my mood still sour from dealing with the elder. He had brought up many things I had not thought or cared to think about. Also, my displeasure at not being able to find The Fox's Rose was more apparent in this form. "I'll answer your questions once we get back to where the Mirror of Desire was stolen from. I should be able to find The Fox's Rose's scent there and learn if she is still in the city or not."

I cannot see her reaction to my harsh voice, but it is also for the better that I cannot see it. I need to have a clear head right now and cannot be bothered by emotions. Perhaps it is a good thing that I'm in my true form rather than my human one. At least now I will only be affected by my negative emotions, which will cause my power to grow.

Soon we arrive at the house, and we quickly make our way to the roof. Before I can say anything to her, Tsukino walks over to the corner of the roof and sits down. She pulls out her book and instead of writing in it, starts to read.

I force myself to ignore her and close my eyes to better concentrate on the scents surrounding the roof. A small wind blew over the roof helping me center in on the scents. Now that I'm downwind of where I was standing before, I can easily recognize my own faded scent as well as what I assumed to be The Fox's Rose's, but I couldn't find Tsukino's. Concentrating harder, I breathe deeper, trying to catch her scent. I can only smell my own, and The Fox's Rose's that smells like Mikiku's once was with a hidden scent of copper.

Suddenly, the wind switches directions just as I am breathing in deeply. I am down downwind of Tsukino, and her scent quickly surrounds me. Usually, this would not have been a problem, since I was used to her scent, but I have never been concentrating on the scents around me as I am now. I try to block her scent from my mind and concentrate on my task, but it's much harder than I thought. Just as the elder warned me.

Her scent was… intoxicating, nothing like I remembered it to be. Instead of the chrysanthemum scent it was when she was staying in Human World, I found myself breathing in a mixture of feline and chiroptera scents that was surprisingly pleasing.

Suzuka must have changed her scent as well when he had her transform by using shampoo and such.

With a great amount of effort, I manage to get control over myself and bring myself back to my mission. After a few more minutes, I decide that The Fox's Rose has left the city behind.

'Can you guess where she went?' Tsukino asks, once I explain that The Fox's Rose has left.

I pause for a moment and take out the file Koenma sent us. After taking a second to read it, I reply, "If she is raiding places due to how close they are to each other, then we should run ahead to the City of Ghosts and Apparitions. When I was last here, there was a rumour about a jewel that I-Yoko Kurama had once stolen, but that was three years ago and it may have moved by then."

Tsukino nods and circles some words to say, 'What have we got to lose? Sooner or later she's going to come back because she knows who you are.'

I nod and walk towards the edge of the roof. Tsukino follows me but just before we jump off the roof, I grab her arm. "You had a question for me before we got here?"

She shakes her head. 'It was nothing. Forget it.'

Her face tells a different story, but the more time we waste, the farther The Fox's Rose is getting away from us. I turn away and look in the direction of the City of Ghosts and Apparitions. "We'd better hurry. It's a day's run from here even if I'm the one running."

* * *

**A/N: Chapter three done. I really like the elder, I was going to give him a bigger role in the original, but I just ran out of time plot-wise. I hope I can fit him in some more later on. Anyways, hope you all are enjoying the story. See ya at the next chapter!**

**-D101**


	4. A Second Attempt at Capture

_Disclaimer: I disclaim Yu Yu Hakusho and Nickelback. I claim the plot, and my OCs._

* * *

_Recap:_ Kurama gets many words of advice from a dog elder, a demon over many millions of eons of years old. The first of which he acted on was to use his nose to learn where Mikiku had gone. Unfortunately, the wind switched directions and caused some problems for Kurama. Regardless, they now know that The Fox's Rose is on the move and now so are they.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Four  
****A Second Attempt at Capture**

A Talk with a Relative

We left for the City of Ghosts and Apparitions the moment that Kurama, declared that Mikiku was no longer in the City of the Damned. On the way over, he was acting odd. Then again, he had been acting odd ever since he talked to the dog demon. Right after talking, he seemed to avoid my eyes and was unusually stiff and angry. Even after we start to travel towards the new city, he was silent.

Thankfully, when we arrived at the city after a day of walking, his mood had improved, and he wasn't standing as stiff. (I was starting to realize that in his demon form, whenever he was annoyed, angry, or shocked, he would stiffen.) He didn't completely relax though and kept a careful eye on the ground for some reason as if he believed something was going to come out and attack us. Nothing did though, and we entered the city without a problem.

Even from the deserted gate, one could see the castle where the Four Saint Beasts once lived. Surprisingly, the streets were just as deserted as the castle should be. Neither a soul in sight nor any signs that suggested that a useful treasure was hidden in the city.

Taking out my book, I asked Kurama where everyone was.

"Now that the Saint Beasts are gone, their followers have abandoned the city. If anyone is here, they will be underground. That is where the Black Markets are if memory serves," Kurama muttered as he stared though a window and door of an abandoned home. Suddenly, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house he had been watching before quickly closing the door.

"Wolves are coming this way and they are looking for a new toy," he explained before I could ask as he looked through his bag. "Drunk if their scent is anything to guess by and it sounds like their target got away. They will probably settle for whatever they can find." He handed me a black cloak. "Suzuka made this; it will disguise your scent. Put it on quickly. We need to get away from here before the wolves catch you-"

A howl was heard, and Kurama stiffened. Looking over his shoulder, he said, "We'd better move. Hold onto the cloak."

I was about to ask why, when he placed the strap of his bag on one of his shoulder and then took mine from me and did the same. Then before I could make any sort of noise, he took me into his arms and held me close. Next thing I knew, we were outside the house, and he was running. He didn't stop until we were in an alley at least ten blocks away from where the wolves were.

"That should give us some time," Kurama muttered before turning back to me. "Do you still have the cloak?"

I nodded and tried to put it on. Unfortunately, I had trouble due to my wings and the material refusing to fit over them. After watching me struggle for a few seconds, Kurama gently moved the material into place.

"The entrance to the market is in the alley across from us," he said quietly as he looked around again. "However, before we enter we'll have to decide on a whether we are pretending to be mates or if you're my slave."

I tilted my head to the side, asking why we couldn't just be partners.

"It's safer this way because either way no one can touch you and if you pretend to be a slave it will give us a good cover as well because I can pretend to sell you."

I nodded in understanding and circled the word slave in one of the tales in my book. It would be more believable for me to be his slave than his mate since I was a mixed breed, and no sane demon marks a mixed breed. Also, the mark wouldn't be permanent.

Kurama nodded and seemed to dislike the idea. "You do realize I have to mark you now."

'It would have been harder to fake a mate mark,' I pointed out before holding out my hand to him.

Kurama seemed like he was about to disagree, but he reluctantly took my hand in his.

I closed my eyes, readying myself for the pain. After second of hesitation, he bit down. I let out a silent hiss of pain when his fangs sank into my wrist and his energy entered the bite. Blood started to flow from the cut as Kurama pulled away though his energy remained and created the slave mark by keeping the bite open and making a covering overtop to prevent infection and bleeding.

Most demons would leave the bite open and not bother to cover it, as the energy keeping the bite open would be enough to signal to other demons that the bitten was a slave. However, more of the bitten died that way due to the bite becoming infected or bleeding to death. Regardless, covered or not, the bite would be painful until it was removed.

The pain doubled when Kurama pulled his fangs out of my wrist and his energy started to create the covering. I was about to pull my hand out of his grasp when the sensation of something on my wrist stopped me. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw that he was licking the bite. The sensation was soothing, and the pain slowly decreased until it was only a small ache.

Eventually, Kurama released my hand and turned away from me to look towards the alley where we would be heading.

"That should take care of any pain you would feel," he calmly said even if his shoulder were tense. "We'd best to keep moving."

I nodded and followed him until we came to what used to a bar. The sign was just about to fall from its place over the door, and the door itself was about to fall into the bar. The windows were so dirty that nothing could be seen through them.

Carefully, Kurama pushed the door open and lead the way into the bar. Surprisingly, the bar was filled with drunken demons. A few watched us as we entered but for the most part they were yelling at each other. Kurama kept a firm grip on my shoulder with one hand while the other gripped the rose bud that would transform into his rose whip.

He walked us over to the counter where he traded a few words with the bartender. The bartender nodded and pointed to a staircase leading downwards that was behind him.

"I assume you're going to want a room when you come back?" he asked Kurama as he looked at me over Kurama's shoulder.

Kurama shook his head. "We shall see. If I'm lucky, I'll be returning alone."

Before the bartender could say anything more, Kurama had led me towards the staircase.

Once or twice he muttered to me to duck because of the uneven ceiling, but the rest of the time we were silent. The walls of the staircase were covered in a black moss and smelt of mildew. The only light was from the top of the staircase where one could still hear the sounds of the drunken demons yelling. More than once I almost gagged from the smell of alcohol mixing with mildew, but for some reason, Kurama was able to walk along with no problem. He was probably used to horrid scents and was able to block them out.

We walked like this for five minutes until suddenly the staircase was filled with the orange light of fire. Kurama pulled me away from the middle of the stairs and against a wall. To my horror, a raccoon demon came up the stairs. She stared right at Kurama who was blocking me from view. Her eyes widened and then narrowed before she continued on her way. Kurama waited a few moments before motioning for us to keep moving. We did not meet anyone else on the stairs until we reached the bottom where a wooden door blocked the way.

Without any hesitation, Kurama knocked on the door to the beat of knockitty knock knockitty knockitty knock knock. The door opened slowly, and as we walked through I saw a little mixed breed boy hiding behind the door. He appeared to be fully bear demon, but when he smiled at me, his teeth were of a shark. I kept close to Kurama after that.

We walked down a torch lit hallway before we entered the market. It was like an underground city with buildings and everything. The city was also lit by torches giving the place a reddish brown glow. There were no booths like in the City of the Damned. Instead the goods were all stored in the buildings. If you didn't know where to get what you wanted, you would have a hard time.

I kept my face hidden deep in the cloak as I had seen other slaves do when their masters entered the bar I had worked in. Kurama also kept his arm around my shoulders in a sign of ownership. He led us into to one of the stores that was selling jewellery and asked if they had the jewel we were looking for.

"The Jewel of Wrath?" the demon vender asked as he poked some of the green warts on his face. "I've heard of it. Dangerous piece of jewellery. Wanting to knock of an ex-girlfriend?"

Kurama smirked slightly. "Something like that."

The vender shook his head. "Very dangerous jewellery. Known to backfire. Why don't you try this little number?" He pulled out a necklace of pearls. "Burns the demon wearing it to a crisp after a minute. Or this one," he pulled out a pendant of ruby. "Turns their blood to fire-"

Kurama's eyes narrowed. "Do you have it or not?"

The vender visibly took a step back and avoided eye contact. "I don't have it, but old man Juro might have it." He gave us some directions, the whole time he was looking at me. Just as we were about to leave he asked, "How much do you want for your slave? I'm been looking for something to test my newer finds on."

I moved behind Kurama when the vender gave me a lecherous glance that suggested he didn't want me just for testing. To my horror, Kurama turned towards the vendor with a smirk on his face and said, "How much are you offering?"

"Well if you let me see under the hood, I can tell you."

Kurama frowned. "What does it matter what her face looks like?"

"I want to make sure that she is healthy-" The vendor's eyes widened. "Not that she wouldn't be. I'm sure you take good care of your slaves," he quickly said.

Kurama gave him a cruel smirk. "At least the ones I sell."

The vender nodded again. "How about one hundred?"

Kurama shook his head. "If she was sickly, I would consider it."

The vendor frowned. "One fifty."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Please, try thinking five hundred." He smirked again. "She's well trained after all."

The vender gave me another lecherous look. "How well trained is that?"

Kurama wrapped his arm around me and let his hand hover over my thigh to make it look like he was touching me. I resisted the urge to bat away his hand as it appeared to start to wander. "Well enough that I wouldn't consider parting for less than a thousand. But since you helped me out, six hundred."

"Four and that's my final offer."

Kurama shook his head and put his arm around my shoulders again. "I think I'll hold onto her if that's all your willing to pay. Obedient slaves are so hard to find. You know how it is."

The vendor just groaned, and we walked out the door.

"I apologize if I made you uncomfortable," Kurama muttered as we walked towards Juro's store.

I nodded to show that I didn't hold it against him, but I tried to hide the fear that was building in me. For a second, I had actually forgotten that Kurama and I were working together. His act was so convincing; I wondered if he had ever done something similar before hand.

"Juro's store is just down the street," Kurama muttered, breaking through my thoughts as we stopped walking. "We'll stay in the area and keep our eyes open."

I nodded and walked with him over to an alley. Kurama kept his eyes on the store while I looked around. After a moment or two, Kurama said, "She'll probably make some sort of distraction so if we get separated-"

I handed him my book, cutting him off. 'I'll meet you at the castle.'

Kurama shook his head. "No, it's too risky. You could get attacked or-"

'I can use my energy. I also know fighting moves.'

Kurama's eyes narrowed, and he frowned. "If we get separated you are **not** to move or use your energy. I'll come and find you," he told me in his 'this is final' voice.

I shook my head. 'It's safer above ground where there are more places to hide.'

"And more demons to attack you."

'No worse than down here.'

Kurama's frown grew, and he was just about to argue with me when a shout of, 'Thief' cut through the air. We both looked towards Juro's store to see a person with bat wings and a black mask running out holding a red jewel about the size of a golf ball. Before he could say anything, I ran after Mikiku leaving him to follow.

He easily caught up and ran alongside of me. "If we get separated, I'll meet you at the castle. Just please don't get lost," he said as he started to run faster.

I nodded and tried to keep up. We chased her back up to the surface, but in the maze of streets, I lost both Kurama and Mikiku. I wandered for a bit, looking for any sign of Kurama or Mikiku. As I walked, I went over what had happened just before I got separated in hopes of figuring out where they were headed.

My brain stopped working though when I recalled Kurama's last words to me before I got separated. He sounded… Sad? It wasn't the right tone. Concerned? It had seemed more than that. Maybe fearful? But of what? My safety? Why would be he be afraid for my safety? I asked myself.

I shook my head of those thoughts and started to make my way up to the castle. There was no way I would find them now. After a few minutes, I found myself at the castle gate. I stood there for a few seconds staring at the gate as the skull that outlined it stared right ahead. Out of curiosity, I looked in the same direction of the skull but saw nothing. With a sigh, I sat down by the gate, waiting for Kurama to show up. Hoping it would be soon because it was starting to get dark.

I had only been sitting for a moment when a figure with bat wings approached me.

"Hey," Mikiku said as she removed her black mask. "Did you lose your fox?"

* * *

Day Five

I'm half-tempted to abandon my prey and return to where Tsukino separated from us. She must have taken a wrong turn, and who knows what trouble she has gotten into. However, if I manage to catch The Fox's Rose, then we'll be able to return to Human World. The sooner we get back the better. I'm not sure I can handle being around her much longer. I've never felt the burden of dieing with a mark this strongly before, and it seems to be getting worse.

The Fox's Rose taking a sharp turn rips me out of my thoughts. Unfortunately for her, I'm not easy to get rid of. I chase her around the city for a few minutes before tackling her to the ground. Wings push me away, and a blade is thrown at me. I quickly pull out my rose whip and counter-attack.

"I guess you are the fox that her name refers to," a male voice says from under the black mask.

I realize I have the wrong person and lower my weapon. "No, I'm not."

The man sounds confused as he says, "Then what were you chasing me for?"

"I believed you were her."

The man looks like he is about to argue as he raises a finger when he lowers it and says, "Note to self: do not wear black next time." He puts away his weapon.

"I'll assume you are new to the underground?" I ask as I too replace my weapon in its usual spot.

He shook his head. The navy blue hat on his head almost falling off. "Nah, been in the business for a couple of millenniums. My name's Death Angel."

"Kyou."

The man shakes his head. "Never heard of you."

I smirk a bit. "Like-wise."

"Touché, so why are you after The Fox's Rose?"

I frown. "I have my reasons."

Death Angel shrugs. "She's just ruining my little sis's name."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah." The man stretches his wings. "Well Kyou-kun see you around." He does a back flip over the wall behind him and disappears.

I shake my head and decide to return to the castle. Wherever The Fox's Rose is, she certainly isn't here. I start to run to the castle, carefully thinking over our next course of action. My thoughts come to a stop when I catch the scent of The Fox's Rose, a mix of roses and copper, coming from the castle. The same location as Tsukino's scent was coming from.

I increase my speed, hoping I'm not too late. "Please be safe," I hear my human side mutter as I run.

* * *

"Lose your fox?" she repeated.

Even if I could have answered I wouldn't have. Her aura's breeze was cold and sharp to my face. As if she had slapped me. I wasn't sure what she wanted so I took a step back to increase the distance between us.

"It looks like you lost your voice too." She moved closer.

I turned my attention to the sounds behind me and listened for the echoes that would signal a hiding place.

"Kurama has that effect on women," she continued. She sighed sadly. "Shame he isn't much of a mate."

I ignored her and decided to take my chances in the castle. Without even looking at her, I turned and ran into the hallway that entered the castle.

An eyeball with tentacles and bat wings glared at me from the other side. It seemed to have a deep cut in its eye but that wasn't my main concern. As I ran down the hallway, it moved behind a boulder, and I heard a switch being flicked. Suddenly, the ceiling was falling towards me.

I was about to brace myself for impact when I suddenly felt myself pushed out of the way and into the castle. For a second, I lay on the ground staring at the sky in a daze. Then, I rolled over and came face to face with Mikiku.

"Haven't you ever heard of the Gate of Betrayal!?" she demanded to know.

I slowly shook my head, completely confused.

She cursed and helped me stand up. "Leave it to Kurama to leave out the important details," she muttered to herself before turning to me. "Alright… Tama was it?"

I nodded, knowing that she must have overheard Kurama and me seconds before we first met.

"Well Tama-chan, you can call me Rose."

I stared and tried to get my voice to work. Finally, I growled in annoyance and pulled my book and pen out of my bag. 'Why did you save me?'

Rose stared at me in confusion. "You really can't talk?"

I nodded.

She looked back at the book. "Well to answer your question, because we're family."

I stared at her, and she grinned sadly.

"I mean, all bats are related right?" she asked as she handed my paper back.

I slowly nodded, still slightly confused.

She seemed to misunderstand the cause of my confusion. "And I'm not mad about you taking Kurama. He was just fun for the moment, you know?"

A case of denial if I ever saw one, I noted, but I decided not to reply. Instead, I started looking around the courtyard we were standing in. The hallway had been sealed by the falling ceiling, and the eye-bat had disappeared.

"I guess you heard about the war," Rose continued.

I nodded as I looked around for another escape route.

Rose was nodding to herself. "Did you know about the bats joining the dogs? Apparently they hate cats more."

I shook my head and politely listened to what she was saying, secretly hoping that Kurama would hurry up. She appeared to be the type who talked to hide her inner feelings.

She gave me a fake grin and winked. "Bats may be good at fighting at night like cats are, but they don't have the ability to move as silently. Echolocation makes for a lousy sneak attack at night. I'm glad that my cat genes are more powerful than my bat ones."

I nodded and looked back over to the hallway. If that was the only way in, how was Kurama going to get in?

"Soon they're going to need to call in foxes. Even then, there is no fox that can compare to a cat."

By this point, I was silently wondering if she liked talking to herself.

"So what side do you support?"

I shrugged and circled some words. 'Not my battle.'

She nodded. "I can respect that, but if you had to, what side would you fight on?"

I shrugged again.

She nodded and walked behind the boulder and flicked the switch. The ceiling removed itself from the floor in the hallway as she walked back to me. She seemed suddenly gloomy as she said:

"Listen, Tama-chan. I can see that I'm not fooling you with all my sidetracking talk so I'll just get to the point before Kurama shows up and ruins it."

Despite myself, I became curious both by her words and her change in mood.

Rose sighed as she started to talk again, "I know that I came off as a really scary person that night, and you probably don't trust me. I don't blame you, but just listen to me and try to learn from my mistakes. Kurama isn't the sort to stay with one girl for very long, mark or no mark. And he won't stop until he has had his fun with you, even if you already are mated. Just play along with him and try not to get to close. Sooner or later, he's going to try to break your heart. When that happens, give me a call. I can show you a few tricks to forget him."

Suddenly, she pretended to be happy again. "See ya, Tama-chan! I'll keep in touch," she shouted as she ran off.

I stared for a few seconds as I tried to piece together what she had told me. I could picture Kurama as a womanizer, but with difficulty. He never showed any interest in the girls that followed him around. However, he was trying awfully hard to get me to fall for him back in Human World.

Before I could think about it anymore, Kurama himself ran into the castle. "Tama-chan, are you alright?" he asked as he ran over.

I nodded and tried to smile to put whatever fears he felt to rest, if he actually felt any.

He seemed relieved, but he became calm again so quickly I wondered if I had imaged it. After a second of being calm, he stiffened unusually. It appeared that he was having trouble calming back down as he angrily said, "The Fox's Rose got the jewel somehow. The person I chased after was called Death Angel. Another thief who seems to not like The Fox' Rose. He might help us if we run into him again. Right now though, we should keep moving. She's probably already moved."

I nodded. 'Where to?'

"It's hard to say. There are two objects that are close by but they are in two different cities. If we miss her in one of them, we'll probably be wandering for months trying to find her again."

'Can I see the list?'

Kurama nodded and dug the list out of his bag.

After looking over it for a moment, I asked him if he had stolen either treasure. He replied that he had stolen a necklace that was now in the next town over but nothing in those two cities.

'How about we go to that city then?'

Kurama frowned. "Why?"

'She seems to be stealing stuff you have before and that's the closest object you've stolen.'

He nodded. "We'd better hurry then. The next object is in a town that is a three day walk from here. Two and a half if I run and you fly, and one and a half if we don't stop."

I nodded and followed him out of the castle. 'So how are we going to get there?'

"We should probably travel non-stop just to get there ahead of her."

'Getting there first won't do us any good if we're both tired.'

He nodded. "How long can you fly for?"

'An hour.'

"We'll run for the first hour then."

I then ran ahead and took to the air. Kurama quickly caught up, running underneath me. We travelled like that for an hour and a half before Kurama forced me to return to earth. After that, he carried me on his back, and to be honest, it was much faster. As he ran, Rose's words came back to my mind as I slowly started to fall asleep due to the soothing motion.

I'm not going to fall for his tricks, I promised myself as I finally drifted to sleep. Not this time.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, towards the end I just started copying and pasting instead of rewriting. I'm lazy, and I can handle that. Hope you don't all kill me since this is the second on in two days. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and reading.**

**-D101**


	5. A Thief and a Stalker

_Disclaimer: In this life, all I own are my OCs and the plot. Maybe I'll get lucky in the next one._

* * *

_Recap:_ During their second attempt capture The Fox's Rose, Kurama meets a thief calling himself Death's Angel, and Tsukino has a talk with The Fox's Rose. After talking a bit about the ongoing war, Rose gives Tsukino a warning and some advice. Finally, she offers her services to help Tsukino through the pain when/if Kurama breaks her heart. The next second, she disappears leaving Tsukino confused and the attempt a failure.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Five  
****A Possible Ally**

Day Six

'How long have you been running?' Tsukino asks me once I stop just beside a marsh on our way to Oni Town.

She had been trying to wake up for almost an hour, which is understandable considering that she has been sleeping on my back for fourteen hours before waking. Also she was confused as to why the scenery was passing by in a blur. Finally, the fact that she is slightly nocturnal shows that she is not a morning person and was having trouble waking up.

"Since you fell asleep," I reply void of emotion as pass her a purple pear-like fruit from my bag and swallow my pill for the day. "I wasn't tired and didn't see any point in stopping. At least this way, we'll hopefully beat The Fox's Rose to her next target."

She nods and looks around. I notice that she is trying to stand as far away from the lake as she can without seeming as if she is avoiding it. 'How far is it to the town?'

"Almost another 24 hours of running so we'd best start moving after we eat something."

Tsukino shakes her head and quickly circles and attempts to write some words. 'We can eat while we travel. It's faster that way.'

I shake my own head. "A few minutes aren't going to make a difference. Beside, if you try to fly right now you'll tire faster meaning I'll have to carry you again."

She rolls her eyes and ignores me. After taking a bite from her fruit, she runs and takes to the air. She hovers for a moment waiting for me to move.

Stubbornly, I refuse to move. It's not because I dislike carrying her, quite the opposite actually, but we can't afford to waste more time. She won't be able to fly at her top speed and we need to be able to travel as fast as we can. Therefore, either I carry her (though she will not like the idea) or she takes this small break and travels at her full speed.

After a few moments, I finish eating and nod to her. Quickly, we start to travel down the road to Oni Town. Tsukino isn't flying quite as fast as yesterday, but over time she starts to travel faster. She seems to be making an effort to avoid contact with me though as she forces herself to fly for almost two hours before I use my rose whip to ground her.

We waste at least five minutes arguing about whether she should let me carry her or if she can return to the skies before she reluctantly allows herself to be carried. The first moment I allow her to fly again, she is instantly flying away from me. Almost as if she couldn't wait to get away from me.

I frown as I run after her. While her eyes are fixed on the road ahead, I silently study her. There are no signs of further gene destruction, but she seems to be thinking. Probably about whatever lies The Fox's Rose told her. The Fox's Rose's scent was all over the place when I arrived at the castle, and I was slightly worried about what she might have said. After the first meeting, I knew that she wasn't to be trusted, but I wasn't sure that Tsukino knew that. As I said before, if Tsukino fell for the thief's tricks, we would be sure to run into trouble.

Now the trouble that could be caused could be far worse. If The Fox's Rose has something against me and wants revenge, the perfect way would be to trick Tsukino into hating me and having her use the Jewel of Wrath. The jewel would attack either Tsukino or myself depending on how its own consciousness felt about the issue. The Fox's Rose most likely believes that there is something between Tsukino and me so causing us any problems in our 'relationship' would be a start to completing her revenge.

However, this is assuming that she is even out for revenge. She also stole the remains of the Mirror of Desire and the Forlorn Hope and possibly is now going after the Kuro Shi Necklace. So what is she planning? What can she gain by stealing these objects and pretending to be Mikiku? She isn't just an obsessed fan. That is for sure. Why is she going to all this trouble?

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by my communicator ringing. To my dismay, Yusuke's and Kazuma's faces appear on the mirror's surface. Kazuma is reading in the background while Yusuke is holding the mirror. They probably have another interrogation planned.

"How's the mission, Kurama?" Yusuke asks with a slight frown on his face. There is no doubt in my mind that he is still upset about me 'cheating on Tsukino'.

"We've had two run-ins with the target. Both times she has gotten away," I inform him. "It appears that she plans her raids perfectly, thus making it difficult to confront her. Have you found anything yet?"

Yusuke shakes his head. "Nothing. We're thinking of looking at her file though. We could look at this Rose chick's file while we're at it. Any idea what her real name is?"

"I'm afraid not but I doubt you would find anything. The Fox's Rose was in Spirit World. If she was a good thief, she would have removed her file while she was stealing the remains of the Forlorn Hope."

"You didn't."

I nod. "However, Spirit World did not have any information on me other than my name and the fact that I had many aliases."

Yusuke's frown grows. "So how do you know that The Fox's Rose was thinking the same thing?"

"Call it a hunch."

In the background, Kazuma looks up, and I barely hear him ask, "Ask Kurama about how Tsukino-chan is."

Before Yusuke can ask, I reply, "She is fine, there are no signs of further problems other than the fact that she still is unable to talk in human languages and has little knowledge of the language of animals."

Part way through my exclamation, Kazuma walked over to Yusuke. Now as he sits down beside his partner, Kazuma says, "Have you asked Tsukino-chan yet?"

Yusuke's eyes suddenly narrow into a glare. "Asked her what?" he growls.

My own eyes widen briefly in confusion. "Yes, Kazuma, what am I supposed to ask her?"

Kazuma frowns and sighs. "You know, about her not being worth-"

I quickly turn off the volume on the mirror and set it so that subtitles appear on the bottom of the. Hopefully, Tsukino can't read what they are saying from the sky.

"-Saving," I read Kazuma finish.

Yusuke instantly stops glaring at Kazuma and me, and his brow creases in confusion. "She thinks she isn't worth saving?"

Kazuma shrugs. "We don't know that's why Kurama was going to ask."

He frowns. "Why would you think that she thinks that she isn't worth saving?"

"Well she did let herself be dragged to the prison."

"That was to avoid getting us into more trouble."

Kazuma shrugs again. "Well I don't know then, ask Kurama. He was the one who asked me."

"Why do you think that she thinks she isn't worth saving, Kurama?" Yusuke asks as he turns to speak to the mirror in his hand.

I sigh and avoid answering his question. "To answer your question, Kazuma, no I haven't, nor do I plan to."

"That didn't answer my question," Yusuke complains at the same time Kazuma asks, "Why not?"

Again, I ignore Yusuke. "Because it is not relevant to the mission."

"What about **your** mission?" Yusuke asks with a sly grin, his question forgotten.

Disliking where the conversation is headed, I cautiously say, "Explain."

Kazuma shakes his head. "You know Kurama, for a smart guy you're pretty dumb."

Yusuke nods in agreement. "It's obvious that you like her."

I nod. "She's a difficult person not to like."

Both Yusuke and Kazuma glare at me.

"Kurama, we mean like as in Kazuma swooning over Yukina."

Kazuma glares at Yusuke and shouts something at him but my attention is no longer on the mirror. As they start their customary fist fight, I close my communicator and shout up to Tsukino, "You'd better land before you fall out of the air."

She shows no signs of hearing me as she struggles to keep in the air.

For the pass few minutes, she has been slowing, and now she is fighting to stay awake. She obviously did not rest enough before since she has only been flying for half an hour.

I start to reach for my rose whip to pull her back to the ground when she suddenly falls like a stone. The next second, she is in my arms clutching her left arm as blood starts to flow from her left wing. Instantly, we are surrounded by low-class demons. I'm tempted to stop cloaking my energy so that the attackers will flee, but if I do that it would be like setting off an alarm. Any demon that recognizes my energy signature would instantly know that I am in Demon World and would no doubt search for me to ask why. So reluctantly, I allow the low-class demons to circle as I look for an escape route.

The ugliest demon, obviously the leader, grins showing many broken and yellow fangs. "Lookie what we've got here boys. It looks like a pup and his toy got lost." His hollow eye sockets stare at us, but even without eyes, it is easy to tell where his senses are focused.

I hold Tsukino closer to me, and tighten my grip on her, carefully avoiding hurting her wing more. There will not be a repeat of the dog demon incident if I can help it.

The low-levels laugh as they move closer. "Don't worry pup. We'll give you directions for a price," one snorts as his green hands reach for the sword at his waist. His hands sliming the hilt.

Tsukino has fallen unconscious and an unpleasant and sharp scent comes to my attention. Whatever has cut her wing has been poisoned. Deep in my throat, a growl sounds as my demon instincts demand a fight.

A small sickly looking demon licks its lips. "Just hand over the girl. She looks like a good meal."

He is dead before he even hits the ground and my whip bloody. Taking my eyes off the low-class, I look down at the girl in my arms. Her face is quickly paling, and her breathing is laboured.

One of the group charges at me with a club, and he is quickly eradicated.

Ignoring the looks of fear I am getting, I look around the group for the one who shot Tsukino. It would have the antidote to the poison in case it wanted to torture or if it accidently stabbed itself. I spot him behind the leader, notching another arrow and aiming for me. The moment the arrow flies is the moment that I move. Moving quickly, I dive forward, ducking the arrow and moving towards my target. Using my whip, I cut down the leader and turn to the archer.

The other demons charge and are quickly destroyed.

Almost reluctantly, I lay Tsukino down by a tree before turning my attention to the last demon. He starts to make a run for it, but I block his way easily. Instantly, he is on his knees begging for his life. Pathetic is the only way to properly describe him.

"The antidote," I request.

Clumsy in fear, the demon digs through his pockets and hands it over. However, he makes a fatal mistake. Just as he hands the antidote over, he attempts to stab me. Instantly, he joins his allies.

Tsukino's cheeks are pale but flushed with the fever her body is attempting to ward off. A sign that the poison will kill her once her body has exhausted all its resources. Before that happens, I take the liquid antidote and mix it with some herbs that in quicken its effect as well as make it a cream. Taking a small amount on my finger, I place a bit on the area where the arrow cut through her wing. Almost instantly, there is a change in her condition. Colour starts to appear in her cheeks, and her breathing is no longer laboured.

I would like to allow her to rest without movement, but there is no time. The Fox's Rose could already been in Oni Town. Slightly carelessly, I take her bag from her and place the strap over my shoulder. Then gently, I lift Tsukino into my arms once more and pull the cloak she wears around her to shield her from the wind. Finally, I start running towards Oni Town.

Day Seven

We finally arrive in Oni Town, and Tsukino is in good health showing no ill effects from the poison. She doesn't even seem to remember the incident, and it would be best to keep it that way. Without even speaking, we split up and slip into our usual routine. While I search for the treasure, Tsukino searches for an inn. However, unlike the first time we were in Demon World together, we keep close to each other. The farthest we are from each other is six metres, the length from one side of the road to another.

Soon, I learn of the exact location of the Kuro Shi Necklace and call Tsukino over. Within seconds, we arrive at the stand where the Kuro Shi Necklace was being sold as well as a familiar pendant.

"How much for the Kuro Shi Necklace and that pendant?" I ask.

The vendor smirks as he looks to Tsukino who is standing behind me. "That all depends on how you will be paying me."

I never remembered the Black Market being filled with so many perverts, for lack of a better term. But I suppose I never did business in the Black Market with a female by my side. Mikiku never joined Kuronue and me on our raids.

Removing myself from my thoughts, I take out a bag of coins. "Cash and my offer is a thousand."

The vendor's mouth falls open, and he instantly hands over the necklace and the pendant. I probably could have gotten them for a much lower price if I had time to debate but there is no telling when The Fox's Rose will appear. And so, we quickly walk away from the stand discussing the plan.

'Do you really think that she will try to steal them from you?' Tsukino asks as we walk.

I shrug as I look at the objects in my hands. The necklace appears to be a simple black ribbon but woven throughout its material is silver strands that form mythical symbols that give the treasure its power. However, the pendant gives no hint at any sort of legendary powers. Instead, it appears just to be a small blood red stone surrounded by a case of metal on a string. "We can only hope," I reply to Tsukino. "Did you manage to find an inn?"

She nods. 'The Blind Pig. It's supposed to be close. Just over in the next block.'

I handed her some coins. "Go to it then and get a room for the night. I'll meet you back there."

Her eyes beg to know what I have planned before she can get to her book to fully communicate her question. However, I have already disappeared into the crowd before she can ask. Now I am wandering around the town with a careful eye out for The Fox's Rose. Once or twice, I believe that I have spotted her but it turns out to be nothing. An hour passes, and I'm almost ready to go to the inn that Tsukino is at when I notice a familiar hat in the crowd of demons.

"Hey Ryou-san," Death's Angel says as he walked up to me still dressed head to toe in black with his mask still on.

"My name is Kyou," I say quietly with a slight glare.

He sounds surprised. "Really? Because you strike me as more of a Ryou guy."

I ignore the comment. "Is there any reason why you have decided to talk to me?"

He nods. "I need that pendant."

"Why not steal it from me then?"

"I decided to ask nicely first. Also I don't want to upset your batty-pet by having you go to your lover's room with injuries."

My eyes narrow further, and I'm about to speak when Death's Angel cuts me off.

"Also, I have some information you might be interested in."

Despite myself, I become curious. "Let's talk over a few drinks."

He nods and leads the way to the Speakeasy Pub. Within seconds we are sitting comfortably surrounded by drunken demons who would forget what they overheard. Once we each have a glass of our preferred drink, Death's Angel starts to explain.

"The pendant used to belong to my dad," he explains. "It's been in our family for centuries and has a lot of history. He's going to kill me if I don't get it back."

I show no emotions as I sip at my drink. "Well that's your problem, isn't it?"

He sighs. "Look Ryou-"

"Kyou."

He shrugs. "Whatever. I need that pendant."

I look it over in my hand. "Perhaps if you told the truth, I would be more likely to hand it over… for a price."

Though his mask hides his eyes, it is obvious that Death's Angel is glaring at me. "Information on The Fox's Rose for the pendant."

I shake my head. "You were going to tell me anyways. How about the real story about why you want it with a couple of coins?"

He is silent for a moment before he reluctantly mutters, "Story and a drink."

I nod. "Deal."

Quickly, I find myself holding a new glass of cheap wine but say nothing. I never specified what kind of drink I wanted, and though the wine is cheaper than water, it tastes better.

After taking a deep breath, Death's Angel explains why he needs the pendant. "My mom gave it to me," he says quietly. "Foxes aren't as close to their families as bats are so I'm not surprised if you don't understand. And not only would my dad actually kill me, so would my mom. It's her favourite pendant."

"A favourite pendant for a favourite son?" I casually ask.

He shrugs. "At the moment. But when she finds out what I've been doing for the past few millenniums she's probably going to explode."

I nod and toss him the pendant. "So what about that information?"

Pocketing the pendant quickly, he mutters in a fugitive manner, "Rumour has it that the Fox's Rose has quit stealing and has joined the cats."

My eyebrows rise slightly at this new information. "If you are lucky, she'll get killed in the process," I reply as I take another sip.

He shakes his head. "Unfortunately, she's too smart for that. Besides, virtually all of the demons are pathetic. Most of them are just looking for glory."

I nod in understanding. "Are they calling in the foxes yet?"

"Yeah. Dogs finally admitted that they are way out of their league. Even the bats are getting in on the action. On the dogs' side of course."

"Have you joined up?"

He nods and takes a drink of his liquor. "Old man forced me but I could care less who wins. As long as The Fox's Rose dies, I'm happy. Actually, that's why I came to speak to you."

I frown. "You want me to join the war as well?"

Death's Angel shakes his head again. "If you join, you join. I just want a bit of help with taking down The Fox's Rose. Somehow she's managed to avoid me every time."

I nod. "I have also been having similar problems."

"If we team up, we might be able to finally catch her."

Slowly, I nod. "Agreed, but I'm not sure if I will join the war."

Death's Angel casually sits back in his chair. "Yeah, I know. You have that batty-cat to look after."

A small smile of amusement appears on my face. "A thief and a stalker."

He shrugs. "Observant is more like it. I saw you two as you were entering town. You're too nice to her for her to be your slave even if she does have a slave mark, but her attitude towards you also shows that you aren't her mate."

For a second, it appears that he is going to ask if she is mated to a relative of mine. To my relief, he changes the subject.

"Anyways," he says after he takes a long sip of his drink, "your name first."

My eyes narrow. "I have already given you my name."

He shakes his head. "Not your real one."

I frown. "You can't even remember the one I gave you."

He holds out his hand. "I'm Kioshi."

I silently wonder if he is insane. "New to the underground?" I cautiously ask.

It is apparent that he is grinning under the mask. "Nope, just insane."

I nod. "That was my first guess."

He nods. "So what about that name?"

After a moment, I say, "Katsu."

Kioshi sighs. "Another fake name," he mutters before saying to me, "Alright, I'll be at the Dragon's Pub in what used to be Raizen's turf's capital town. Meet me there in a few days and let me know if you're joining up with the army. If you aren't, we'll have to come up with some sort of plan."

I smirk a bit as I reply, "For a bat, you're smarter than you look."

He shrugs. "For a fox, you're more annoying than you look." He then disappears out of the bar leaving me with a week to decide.

The decision is a simple one if not for the fact that Tsukino is travelling with me. I wonder how she will react to the idea of joining the war. Mostly likely, not well.

The thought of Tsukino reminds me that she must be wondering where I am. I pay for my drink before making my way towards the Blind Pig.

On the way, I casually place my hand in my pocket (a habit that appeared while I was in Human World) and feel for the Kuro Shi necklace. Instead of the soft texture of the necklace, my hand rubs against a piece of paper. Confused, I take the paper out of my pocket to see words written over it.

'Better luck next time, Kurama. And don't worry; I'll make sure that your new toy gets the lovely necklace. Love, Mikiku.'

I have no idea how she had managed to steal the necklace, but one thing is sure. Tsukino is in trouble.

* * *

**A/N: Both the beginning and the ending of this chapter was a pain to write. But I'm happy with it now. And for those of you wondering about the race and lake scenes, don't worry. It's still going to happen… eventually. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and for reading! See ya next chapter!**

**-d101**


	6. I might get the wrong idea

_Disclaimer: I'm running out of creative disclaimers so I'll just say, I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Kurama and Tsukino managed to find and gain the Kuro Shi Necklace as well as a pendant. However, between Kurama telling Tsukino to go to the inn she found and him giving the pendant to Kioshi AKA Death's Angel, Rose manage to pick-pocket Kurama. In the place of the necklace, she left a note promising that she would personally deliver it to Tsukino. Now, even though Kurama and Tsukino may have a new ally, they will have to work fast before they find themselves in the middle of a war between cats and canines.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Six  
****Double Curses**

A Visit from the Enemy

I couldn't understand why Kurama insisted on my going to the inn while he searched for Rose. It didn't make any sense to me since so far Rose had not tried to attack me. She even saved me from becoming a pancake at the Gate of Betrayal and then warned me about how Kurama supposingly used to be. However, Kurama acted like she was going to attack me at anytime. Perhaps he wasn't thinking about Rose though, but if he was thinking about other demons he probably would have allowed me to go with him. That way he would be able to keep an eye on me.

Regardless, if he was trying to 'protect' me from Rose, he was going the wrong way about it. As I was sitting down on my bed for the night and going through my bag for dinner, there was a tap on the door. Curious, I walked over and slowly unlocked the door, not removing the chain. I peeked out the door but saw nothing. With a confused look on my face, I closed and relocked the door.

"Kurama really doesn't tell you anything, does he?" a voice suddenly asked from behind me. "He could have at least taught you how to keep your inn room secure."

I quickly whipped around and found myself face to face with Rose. Instead of wearing black like the last time I saw her, she was wearing a tight blue tunic that accented her curves. It was obvious why Kurama had chosen to mate with her, and I found myself wondering why he could have left her for anyone else. Suddenly, I felt very self-conscious of my appearance and realized that I couldn't compare to Rose. That meant that Kurama probably wasn't interested in me now that he saw Rose again and saw her great beauty. The idea should have filled me with peace, but I felt disappointed instead to my distress.

"You okay, sis?"

I looked up from the floor where I had been staring to see Rose standing right in front of me with a frown on her face. Ignoring her question, I walked over to my bag and pulled out my book. 'Why are you here, Rose-san?' I asked.

"Just came to check in on my little sis," Rose replied.

I nodded and slowly sat down on my bed. 'But I'm not your little sister.'

She shrugged as she sat down beside me so she could read my words over my shoulder. "All bats are related. Besides, it's better than calling you little cuz'."

I showed no signs of agreeing or disagreeing as I reached into my bag again before tossing her a fruit and biting into my own. 'I would have thought that you would be out on a heist.'

She shook her head. "Nah. I've already got everything I need here."

'So why are you still in town?'

She frowned. "I already told you, I'm here to check in on you."

'So why didn't you just look in the window and then leave for the next heist?'

"Because I already have what I need. I don't have to steal anymore; now I'm joining the cats and I came to ask you to join me." She paused for a moment and then said, "And I also came to make sure that Kurama isn't being evil to you. I think he's caused more damage to the hearts of vulnerable girls than most boys cause in ten lifetimes."

I nodded slowly. 'I'm afraid that I cannot join right now, and you don't have to worry about me. I'm in no danger of falling for him. He isn't my type.'

Rose frowned. "We both know you are lying," she suddenly smiled, "unless you like his human form more and that's your type."

I flinched but tried to hide it as I circled some more words. I hoped that she hadn't realized that she had hit the mark. 'I have no idea what you are talking about. His human form may be cute but-'

Rose rolled her eyes but looked down at me in pity. "You are one of those girls that have to learn things for themselves, aren't you?"

I shook my head. 'I'm not interested in him. The only reason purebloods ever chase after mixed breeds or half breeds is because they only want them for pleasure.'

Rose nodded slowly. "Pervious heartbreak?" she asked quietly as her ears laid back.

I shook my head. 'Some of us actually learn by watching people around them.'

She nodded again. "Has Kurama tried to seduce you yet?"

My mind flashed back to the time when there was a slime ogre in my room and Kurama tried to comfort me. Not only had I learned that the topless hot signal was a topless Kurama, my curse also acted up. If it wasn't for some kids making a huge noise in the alley, we'd probably be mates. I had accidentally seduced him, but he paid me back just before a shape shifter sent by Oshiro told me where the trap I was to lead the Spirit Detectives into was. That however was to get information from me instead of trying to get me to sleep with him.

For a second I was silent as I tried to figure out how to answer. 'Not really. He appears to have realized that I'm not interested.'

Rose frowned, and her ears stood up in curiosity. "That's not like him at all."

I shrugged. 'Time changes everything, demons included.'

Rose was silent as she looked around the room. "So is Kurama still out at the bar?"

My own ears leaned forward a bit more. 'The bar?'

She nodded. "I saw him at a bar talking to some bat."

'Did you talk to him?'

Rose shook her head. "No. He was probably asking for the best place to find a girl." She sighed in annoyance. "Idiot should be focusing on the war instead."

'The war?'

Rose nodded. "The bats have joined the dogs, and they are calling in the foxes. If I know Kurama as well as I think I do, he'll want to join the dogs and will try to drag you along."

I frowned but circled no words.

Rose's face became pale with a hint of green as she exclaimed, "Whatever you do, don't let him drag you to the dogs' side."

I raised my eyebrow. 'Why?'

Her eyes were slowly filling with tears. "Bats are perfectly nice to other full-bloods but to halfs," she paused a moment, "we are nothing but toys to be broken."

I frowned when she spoke no more. 'So? He won't let anything happen to me. He can't.'

Rose's eyes widened in surprise just as mine own did. Where had that sudden certainty in Kurama's abilities come from? I asked myself.

Before I could find an answer, Rose's shock had vanished into a look of pity. "It looks like you still have some learning to do, kitten." She stood up from the bed and moved out the door. "Talk to you later, sis."

I just nodded and took another bite of my fruit. There was nothing left to do but wait for Kurama to return and hear what had happened. To my utter shock, Kurama burst through the unlocked door half a minute after Rose had left. If he were human, he would have been panting because it appeared that he had just ran full speed to the inn.

"Why was the door unlocked?" he asked, his shoulders completely stiff and his hair turning red.

'I forgot to lock it,' I told him. It was half true; I didn't have time to lock the door after Rose left before he rushed in.

"The Fox's Rose was here, wasn't she?"

It would be a stupid move to lie, so I nodded my head.

This seemed to worry Kurama more. "Did she leave anything?"

I shook my head. 'Tired?' I asked.

He was silent for a moment before nodding. "I suppose my exhaustion is effected my head," he muttered.

'Running for a few days straight will do that to you.'

A small smile appeared on his face. "Perhaps." His smile vanished again. "She got the necklace from me somehow."

I nodded. 'We'll just try again tomorrow.'

Kurama's mouth twitched as if he was going to speak and then quickly closed his mouth. He nodded. "We'd best turn in. We'll leave first time tomorrow."

'You'd better take your pill now then so that you don't transform during the night.'

Kurama frowned as he sat down on his bed. "What do you mean?"

'Your hair is changing colours again. Did you take your pill this morning?'

Kurama moved a lock of his hair into his view and glared at it. "I took a pill this morning."

'You sure?'

He was silent for a moment before he reached for his bag. "Fairly sure but it wouldn't hurt to take another." Quickly so that he wouldn't taste it, he swallowed another pill, and his hair turned back to black.

The next moment, we turned into bed and slept until dawn. At dawn we disappeared into the horizon towards the next town. Our next target city was Nishimura, the capital of what used to be Raizen's turf. The trip took two days, the first of which was the most stressful known to demon and human kind. Everything went wrong. We got attacked again. Our bags got stolen so we had to get them back. The road was closed so we had to go off road. We got lost. It was a nightmare. Also, because we lost so much time we had to travel through the night. Finally, Kurama was having trouble with his pills. He had to take them every twelve hours.

Understandably, we both hoped that the second day of travel would be smoother. Slightly luckily, it did. Kurama had managed to calm down and wasn't as tense, but he had this look in his eye that suggested trouble. I didn't realize how much trouble his eyes promised until we were crossing a bridge.

We were half-way across when Kurama suddenly stopped. He stared out onto the water and quietly asked, "Tama-chan, did you ever overcome your fear of water?"

I shook my head because I was too exhausted to grab my book. Just because I could be nocturnal didn't mean that I could pull all-nighters very well.

Kurama nodded once he saw my answer, and followed me towards the water bank. Just as I stepped off the bridge, he suddenly grabbed my arm and forced me to turn towards him. A small smirk appeared on his face, and I tried to take a step back only to be pulled closer to him.

I hissed, demanding to be released but he just removed my bag from my shoulder with his other hand. Then he removed his bag in the same fashion before throwing the two by a tree. It was then that I became afraid of what he was going to do.

He stared down at me with a look I had never seen in his eyes before, neither human nor demon. It wasn't a lust-filled look or perverted in the least. Instead, it was something far worse. He looked thoughtful and mischievous.

Before I could hiss at him again, I suddenly found myself being thrown onto his shoulder and carried like a sack of potatoes. Instantly, I started kicking and punching his back. He showed no signs of any pain or annoyance as he walked back to the middle of the bridge. While he walked, I cursed him in my head though I admit the curses were quite pathetic since I wasn't practiced in the art as Yusuke liked to call it. I quickly ran out of curses and started trying to think of why Kurama was acting so weird and how I could get away from him.

It was then that I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. His tail. If I pulled it, he might let me go. I was about to grab it when he grabbed mine.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I might get the wrong idea," Kurama muttered, amusement clear in his voice.

I turned slightly and bit his ear in anger.

He didn't even flinch but instead tugged my tail causing me to release his ear.

I was starting to wonder why I even liked the guy.

"Calm down, Tsu-chan," he said quietly. "We both need a bath and it will only take a second."

I started kicking and hissing again. Not in a lake that is way too deep! I shouted at him in my head.

"If you want, I'll even keep you in my arms to prevent you from drowning."

'Pervert!' I tried to say but it only came out as hissing.

"Remember Tsu-chan, you were the one who was giving me the wrong idea by biting my ear and wanting to pull my tail."

I blushed and was about to hiss at him again when I wasn't on his shoulder anymore. Suddenly, I was off his shoulder and barely keeping my balance on the edge of the bridge. (This one did not have railings; it was just supported planks of wood.)

Kurama watched as I tried to keep my balance.

I glared at him to give him a warning that if he pushed me, he was going to get hell from me. Unfortunately, he had the advantage, was not afraid of water, and spirit detectives are hard to threaten so my glaring was useless. He grinned at me and then flicked my forehead causing me to fall into the water.

Instantly panic filled my system as I tried to figure out where the surface was. A hand grasped my elbow and quickly pulled me out of the water. Without thinking, I grabbed the front of the person's shirt in a death grip. Slowly, I realized that the shirt was a light brown colour and part of a tunic. A very familiar tunic.

Dreading what I would see, I slowly look up into Kurama's worried eyes.

Without even a word, I pushed him away from me and started walking towards land. The water being up to my waist hindered my speed, but I couldn't fly because of my wet wings so walking was the best option. The sooner I was away from that jerk, the better.

"I'm sorry, Tama-chan, I didn't think that…" Kurama's voice trailed off as I gave him the finger over my shoulder. Yusuke had taught me well.

"Tama-chan."

I turned and glared at him over my shoulder. In my mind I said, Go to Hell while I hissed aloud.

Kurama's eyes widened and his jaw went slack in shock. Shock of what I had no idea. Surely someone had given him the finger before. In any case, I ignored him and kept wading through the water.

"Tama-chan," he said.

I wasn't in the mood to hear him say anything so I kept walking.

"Tama-chan," he said more urgently.

I ignored him as I grabbed my bag and started to look for some dry clothes. He seemed to be getting annoyed. Good, I decided, he was getting on my nerves too.

"Tama-chan!" he shouted.

I turned around and got drenched head to toe with water. The bastard had somehow managed to find a bucket and fill it without me knowing.

If looks could kill he would have been dead a thousand times over. I think he knew it too, but he kept pushing his luck. (Not that I could actually hurt him. Damn detective.)

While he grinned at me in that arrogant, regretful, and slightly hot way, I looked around for something to aid me in my quest for revenge. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything so I just grabbed my bag and started to walk back to the path. I would pay him back later, I promised myself.

Kurama seemed to realize that he had crossed some sort of line twice and quickly grabbed his bag and caught up.

"Tama-chan," he said.

I avoided his eyes and kept walking. First, he embarrassed me with all those flirty comments. Second, he threw me into the water and let me freak out when he found out that I wasn't over my fear. And finally, third, he apologized and then kept annoying me. The jerk.

"Tama-chan, please look at me?"

His voice sounded so heartbroken and pleading that I almost looked. I stopped myself just in time. It was just karma for throwing me into the water. Leave me alone, I said in my mind. To my surprise, I could almost hear the words come out of my mouth. I blinked in confusion. The only logical reason I could think of was that I was hearing things.

Suddenly, Kurama's arms were wrapped around my waist and he lifted me up before moving his arms so that one was under my legs and the other supporting my back. Not liking that position at all, I started kicking, and demanded to be released. Once more, I could have sworn that words came out of my mouth instead of hissing.

Kurama's voice cut into my hissy fit. "If you say so." Swiftly, his arms disappeared from my person, and I fell. Water came over my head again but this time I managed to hold the panic off long enough to stand up. Instantly, my panic turned to anger, and I wouldn't have been surprised if flames appeared in my eyes.

"KURAMA!

While his face turned into a sad smile, my own eyes widened.

"What the hell?" I quietly asked myself as my hands moved over my mouth. Somehow I had managed to learn to speak Japanese again. Slowly, I looked up at Kurama in wonder.

He nodded. "I'm sorry Tama-chan. It appeared this was the only way but at least you can talk now."

Anger quickly returned as I told myself that there were other ways he could have gotten me to talk. He didn't have to scare me or annoy me. And even then, he was lying about being sorry. He enjoyed torturing me like that. Or so I told myself. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. His sad smile had disappeared, and his ears were laid back. He seemed really sorry and worried, and unlike the other times, his expression didn't change. His expression didn't return to his calm and distant one but remained worried.

I started walking towards shore. For some reason, Kurama felt it would be best to dump me in the middle of the lake. Thanks to my bat hearing, I was aware of Kurama slowly following. His guilt of scaring me was starting to make me feel guilty about not forgiving me. "Fine," I muttered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his ears move forward and a small smile appear on his face once more. I also saw a mostly-full bucket of water right beside me. Hoping that Kurama wasn't as fast as I thought he was, I grabbed the bucket and threw the water at him. To my pleasure, the water hit its target, and I gave him a grin as I tried to ignore how his shirt was clinging to his chest.

"Payback," I explained.

His eyes were wide before they narrowed and then his smile turned into an evil grin. "Remember, I know how to swim and you don't."

My face paled, and I attempted to wade through the water faster. Because of my attempts to move faster, I almost fell face first into the water. Before that could happen Kurama's arms wrapped around my waist again as he pulled me close. I hoped he couldn't see my face blush.

"Want to go for a swim?" he asked me. "I could teach you."

I shook my head, not trusting my newly found voice to work properly with him being so close by.

"It will be fun," Kurama whispered into my ear causing my blush to deepen.

I shook my head again as I felt my curse start to rise to the surface. If he didn't let go, a repeat of the slime ogre incident could have happened.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, his arms moved from my waist, and he took a step away from me. He moved in front of me and did not turn to face me as he said, "Come on, we'd better get going if we are going to get The Fox's Rose." His voice lost its playful tone and was once again deep and distant.

I nodded and followed him back to shore. For a moment, I wondered why his personality changed so quickly but stopped myself. Thinking about him only caused my curse to act more. So I tried to think up a way to avoid looking at him until my curse was under control again. Instinctually, I knew that if I looked at him, it would be as bad as seeing a male demon in Hraru.

Silently, I wondered what made him so special that I acted this way around him. Sure he was nice (most of the time), polite, smart, sweet, handsome in both forms, graceful, understanding, comforting, and every girl's dream man but he also was a fox demon. Usually my cat demon blood would have killed me before it would let me yearn to be his mate. If it was any other fox demon it probably would have, but for some reason, Kurama made even my cat demon side want him. Why was he so special? I questioned myself. Was I the only one effected?

My thoughts came to a stop when I remembered Rose's warning. I wasn't the only one who was cursed to feel that way about him. If anything she had it worse because she couldn't get over him even after what he have- may have done.

For the second time my thoughts came to a stop, but this time they were stopped by the sound of the equivalent of a human conscience.

'_You don't even know if what she said was true. Even if it was, that doesn't mean that Kurama hasn't changed. Rose herself admitted that twenty-four years had changed him. Maybe he won't blow you off,'_ it said.

Or maybe she is right, and he will, I replied.

'_You won't know if you don't risk it,'_ the voice said.

As I followed Kurama down the road, I thought, 'Is it worth the risk?'

The voice was silent and allowed me time to think up a way to distract myself from the fox in front of me.

"Kur- Kyou-san?" I asked.

He half-turned as he replied, "Yes?"

"How about we race?"

I kept avoiding his eyes, but I could tell he was interested from his voice. "A race?"

I nodded. "We've already lost a lot of time and walking won't get us anywhere so if we-"

"Alright but the race won't mean much if we don't wager something. After all, if I'm going to beat you, I might as well get something for it."

He sounded like he was just stating a fact, and my anger grew once again. Hadn't he heard that a cat's curse lasts seven generations? Or maybe he thought mixed-breeds can't curse people. I shook my head to get my thoughts straight. "If you win, I'll kiss you." My own eyes widened instantly when I realized that I hadn't suppressed the curse enough.

Kurama was silent for a moment before he nodded. "Very well, I will wager a kiss also so that you won't feel too badly if you manage to win."

I glared at the tree behind him. "First one to the next town wins."

"Very well but I have one condition. You must fly the whole time. If any part of your body touches the ground between the start of the race and the end, you instantly lose."

I nodded. There was no way I could win if I was running against him but at least if I was flying I had a fighting chance and with the wager in effect there was no way I would lose. I had too much pride on the line.

Silently, we moved side by side, facing in the direction of the next town. We count to three, and we are off. Neither one knowing what would await us at the next town or at the end of the race.

* * *

Day Nine

I had known that the stress was getting to me. The stress from yesterday's travels coupled with the failed attempts to capture The Fox's Rose were more than enough mental baggage, but I was also stressed about The Fox's Rose promise to give Tsukino the Kuro Shi Necklace. Unfortunately, like an immature kit, I allowed the stress to get to me.

Just like our counterparts, foxes demons are creatures that deal with stress by becoming mischievous and wanting attention. Earlier today, the stress finally got to me as Tsukino and I were walking over a bridge. I remembered her fear of water and wondered if she had managed to overcome that fear yet. At first, I was only annoying her for attention until Tsukino managed to make a noise that sounded close to Japanese. My fox side became curious and kept annoying her until she finally managed to shout at me.

Unfortunately, my mating curse started acting up, so I tried to flirt with her. I know that I must have seemed completely out of character towards her by acting like a human teenaged boy, but I had no control over it at the time. Also, the fact that she kept encouraging me didn't help. She looked very cute when she was blushing, and I just lost control.

Fortunately, I managed to get some control over myself before things got out of hand like the slime ogre situation. It was slightly painful to see how she was avoiding looking at me though, and I wondered why she was acting like that. Unluckily, those thoughts turned into other thoughts that caused me to be grateful when she challenged me to a race. That gratefulness quickly turned into curses when she wagered a kiss.

Did she have any idea what she was doing to me? Did she really want to encourage my advances? Had she any idea of the weapon she was giving The Fox's Rose to use?

Blocking those thoughts from my mind, I accepted. Now I am running down the road to the next town as Tsukino flies overhead. At first, I kept my speed matched with her and watched her fly over the road. After a few moments of running, I yelled up to her that she didn't have to follow the road.

She just grinned down to me, and I ignored the dim feeling of happiness that her smile caused. "I know," she said, "but when I win that knowledge will make the victory even sweeter."

Even now she is still flying overhead as I have let her believe that she has a chance. Deciding that now would be a good time to show her how wrong she is, I start to increase my speed. To my surprise and satisfaction, Tsukino has no trouble matching my pace. Yusuke and Kazuma did a good job teaching her. I continue to increase my speed until I find her top speed and keep my pace the same. For some reason, I dislike the idea of leaving her in the dust. Perhaps it is because though she is safe from other demons in the air, I want to be sure that no harm comes to her.

We continue racing for three hours, and I enter the town first. Tsukino nearly crashes as she lands, and I quickly take her into my arms to support her.

"I'm fine," she quietly mutters as I take her bag from her and place it over my shoulder.

"I know. We'll just get there faster if we travel this way," I tell her as I slowly scoop her up into my arms.

Too exhausted from the race to argue, she allows me to carry her to Nishimura, falling asleep along the way. Careful not to wake her, I walk to the nearest inn and acquire a room. I lay her down on a bed gently before laying down on the other one myself. There is no point waking her and planning an attempt. The Fox's Rose is no longer acting as a thief. The only way we can capture her is to join the war, but Tsukino will dislike that idea. Perhaps there is a way to get her to agree… But I'll figure… it out tomorrow… as long as my mating curse… doesn't act… up…

* * *

**A/N: Wow. That's long. I hope you are enjoying this, and I'm warning you that I'm sorta making this up as I go again. Trying to copy and paste ideas of the plot into the story in a different order is kinda hard so if I forget something please let me know. Anyways, thanks to all the reviews and readers. See ya soon!**

**-d101**


	7. Thank You

_Disclaimer: I've out of creative disclaimers so I'll just say, "I only own my OCs and the plot."_

* * *

_Recap:_ Kurama and Tsukino were separately approached and encouraged to join the war for opposite sites. Neither gave a concrete answer, and they started to travel towards the bar where Kurama would talk with Kioshi. On the way, Kurama's disguise pills started to lose their effectiveness meaning he had to take more of them. Also, the stress started to get to him causing him to act out of character and throw Tsukino into a lake. Because she was thrown into the lake, Tsukino regained the ability to speak Japanese. However, at this time, both their mating curses started to act up so Tsukino suggested a race. They did race but neither mentioned the wager when Kurama won. Finally, they got into the town with the bar, and now are only waiting.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Seven  
****A Dangerous Side Effect**

Bad Start to the Day

The day after I got thrown into the lake and regained use of the Japanese language, I was awoke by the sound of Kurama coughing. Actually, choking might be a better word to describe the noises he was making. I opened my eyes and looked around the new room I found myself in. The dusty brown wall-paper was peeling from the walls, but the beds were soft and comfortable. Kurama's was empty though, and I looked towards the second door in the room off to my left. From behind the closed door came Kurama's hacking.

Wondering if he had forgotten to take his pills, I grabbed them from the nightstand by his bed and walked towards the closed door. After taking a moment to knock, I entered and found Kurama leaning over the sink. He was shaking as he tried to contain the coughs, and his eyes were tired but slowly turning Egyptian blue. His fox ears were also shrinking, and his hair was turning dark brown.

He did not even notice my entrance as another wave of hacking hit him.

For a moment, I could do nothing but stand there and watch. Demons usually never got sick, and if they did, they rarely recovered for they were slain before any other demons could catch the disease. However, Kurama's problems were obviously caused by the pills he was taking.

As I took a pill out of the bottle in my hand, I felt a sudden stab of forbidding enter my mind. If the pills were what were causing the problems, it would probably cause even more problems to give him another one. On the other hand, humans who suffered from drug dependence suffered worse when the drug they were dependent on was removed from their system. Though I was sure Koenma and Kurama did not think of it that way, Kurama was dependent on the pills to keep his demonic energy high enough for him to remain in his demon form.

The pill still in my hand, I moved closer towards him. Gently, I placed my hand on his back and rubbed. I had seen Keiko do something similar when Yusuke was sick while I was living with them and hoped that it might help Kurama. To be honest, I failed to see how simply rubbing someone's back would help a person's cough, but for whatever reason Kurama's coughs slowly became less forceful.

Unfortunately, before he was completely cough free, Kurama suddenly jerked away from me, and his coughs returned. He faced me and covered his mouth as he coughed. Through them he glared at me, and I instinctually took a step back. "Get out of here," he said. Fear must have been obvious on my face because he added, "We can't afford you getting sick too."

I nodded and left the pills where he could see them before returning to the main part of the inn room and sitting on my bed. Taking out my book, I started to read, ignoring the circles that covered some of the pages. I finished four stories before he finally emerged from the bathroom only looking slightly better as his hair had stopped becoming red and his eyes green. His shoulders were still tense though, no doubt from the after-effects of the coughs. After I had left the room, his coughs had gotten much worse before they got better.

Wearily, he sat down on his own bed and reached for his bag. Once he had pulled out a slightly bruised apple, he said, "Did I wake you?"

I nodded. "Though I was going to wake up anyways." I paused a moment. "How long had you been coughing?"

He took a bite of his apple as he grabbed his bag and walked towards the door. "It's not important. I'll be back after I talk with Kioshi-san."

"Should I come?" I meant to ask if I **could** come to help. After all, I felt like I had done nothing this whole time. Each time, I talked to Rose I wasn't able to ignore my conscience long enough to capture her. Both my cat demon and bat demon blood agreed that it was a cowardly move to capture someone while talking to them.

Either he did not realize what I was actually asking, or he didn't want the help because he shook his head as he took a bite out of the apple. "The less he knows about you the better."

"Because bats are cruel to half-bats?"

Kurama's eyes barely widened but made his confusion known. "Where did you hear that?" he asked.

Realizing my mistake and fearful that he might make a plan that would involve me talking to Rose and then capturing her, I lied. "My job at the Nishi Bar," I said quietly, looking at the floor. I never actually told him that I worked at a bar before meeting the others in Spirit World, but I had no doubts that he had learned about it somehow.

He seemed unsurprised by the knowledge and turned back to the door. "I'll be back in a few hours."

I was about to nod when I saw that his hair was changing colours again. "Kur- Kyou-kun," I quickly said as I stood up.

He turned to me, his face void of emotion as usual but his eyes slightly tilted in confusion.

I pointed to his hair. "You have to take your pill."

He frowned and took a strand of his hair in his hand. "I just took it," he muttered under his breath.

I frowned also. "Perhaps you should take another one."

He shook his head. "It wouldn't be wise considering how the last one sent me into a coughing fit."

My frown deepened. "But I thought that-"

Kurama's communicator went off before I could finish my sentence, and he slowly opened the mirror as if dreading what he would see.

"KURAMA!" I covered my ears as Yusuke's voice blasted through the mirror's speakers. "About time you picked up, Koenma wants a status report and… What did you do to your hair and eyes? Forget to take the pill?"

Kurama shook his head and leaned against the door, looking even more tired now. He looked over to me and silently asked me to leave the room.

I nodded and went to the bathroom. Turning on the water, I decided to take a bath since the dip in the lake made me smell fishy and feel slimy. Unfortunately, over the sound of the water and the solid barrier of the locked door, I could still hear Kurama's and Yusuke's conversation. Kurama gave a quick summary of the mission so far before addressing Yusuke's question about the pills.

"I already took my pill this morning Yusuke, and for whatever reason, it has only caused me ill-effects," Kurama was saying as I shampooed my hair with some of the shampoo that Botan had put in my bag. It was unscented for some reason, but I didn't mind as it got rid of the slime and fish scent.

Yusuke's loud voice cut through the door as if it wasn't even there. "You just don't want to admit that Tsukino-chan distracted you and you forgot."

"For the last time, Yusuke, I've already taken them."

"Then why is your hair have red highlights and look brown?"

"The pills seem to be losing their effectiveness."

"Or you aren't taking them."

"I already took the pill."

"You look tired. You getting enough sleep? Maybe you dreamed that you took the pill when you really didn't."

Kurama actually sighed. "Yusuke I-"

"Did Tsukino-chan see you take the pill?"

"No, she was asleep-"

"Then how can you been sure that you even took one?"

"Because I had a coughing fit right afterwards."

I could picture Yusuke's frown as he said, "Why would the pills give you a coughing fit?"

"I am unsure why." Kurama's voice trailed off as if he was falling asleep.

"Kurama, you okay?"

"I am fine, Yusuke."

"You sure don't look fine."

He didn't sound fine either. His voice though usually quiet and calm sounded half-dead. Quickly, I finished my bath and slipped on a bathrobe that Botan had lent me for the trip when I felt Kurama's energy suddenly decrease. At the same time, Yusuke shouted, "Tsukino-chan," as if he knew that I was able to hear him.

I instantly opened the door and found Kurama shivering like mad, and the communicator on the ground facing us. Yusuke's worried face stared through it. "What happened?" I demanded to know as I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Kurama.

Yusuke was frowning and his eyes wide. "I don't know. One second he was denying that he wasn't feeling well and then this… Wait a second, when did you learn to talk again?"

I looked over at Kurama. "Now is not the time, Yusuke-kun."

Yusuke nodded apologetically. "I'll go get Koenma. Maybe he knows what's happening."

I nodded and watched for a second as the communicator screen went black. Then I turned my attention back to Kurama. His demon energy was rapidly decreasing, and I didn't like the idea of giving him another pill. The only option we had was an energy transfer because even if his demon energy ran out, the change to his human form could kill him from the stress of the change on his weakened state.

Slowly, I reached towards his forehead. I had never done a transfer before, but Kuwabara had once told me how he gave Yusuke energy after Yusuke battled the fourth Saint Beast. The only difference from what I was doing now was that I was using demon energy and not life energy. It couldn't have been that different, I decided.

However, Kurama stopped me before I could do the transfer. He grabbed my arm before it touched his forehead and glared at me through tired eyes. "You are not to use your energy," he reminded me. He was panting slightly.

"We don't really have any other options right now," I replied trying to sound firm and not worried.

He did not listen and instead said, "Pills."

I glared at him. "They're what caused this remember?"

He slowly shook his head. "It will buy Yusuke some time to get Koenma, and you can afford to lose anymore energy."

I frowned. "Neither can you." Nevertheless, I quickly moved from his side and got the pills. Hesitating for a second, I finally gave him a pill, and he swallowed it. His hair became black and his eyes blue again the same instant he stopped shivering and panting. The forbidding feeling returned as he stood up, but I couldn't figure out why. He seemed perfectly fine now.

Kurama also seemed to sense something was off as he looked his hands over before reaching for his hair to pull out his rose whip.

The communicator suddenly beeped again, and a wave of relief washed over me. I had had a bad feeling that the moment he tried to use his powers something bad would happen.

We both turned to the mirror and saw Koenma looking out at us. "Yusuke said that there was a problem with the pills," he said calmly.

Kurama nodded. "For the past few days, the pills have only lasted twelve hours before I've had to take another one. Also following the pills, I have felt nausea."

Koenma's pacifier fell out of his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier!? Kurama, you have to stop taking those pills and back to Spirit World right now! If you start having coughing fits then-" He stopped talking for a moment and then added fearfully, "You haven't had any coughing fits after taking a pill have you?"

Worried about what the answer would cause, I looked over to Kurama to see his reaction to Koenma's question. His face was calm, his eyes shielded, but his shoulder tense as tense as Hiei's last nerve if Kuwabara was to be believed. "I have," Kurama replied.

Koenma seemed close to tears. "Please tell me you didn't take another pill afterwards then."

"It was our only option."

Fear turned to anger for Koenma as he started waving his arms around. "You could have done an energy transfer!"

Kurama calmly shook his head. "There was no one suitable around."

I felt a small bit of me cave in when he said that. He might as well have said I was useless on the mission because I actually was. I couldn't even help my teammate when he was in trouble because I wasn't 'suitable'. Most of our attempts had also failed because of me whether it was directly or indirectly. Realizing that there was no reason for me to be present during the talk, I started to walk back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

"Tsukino-san."

I paused mid-step and turned to face Koenma when he addressed me. "Yes, Koenma-sama?"

His face was completely serious as he said, "Keep an eye on Kurama. He is not to leave the inn until I send Botan to escort you both to a portal back to Spirit World. Understood?"

I slowly nodded, and Kurama glared at Koenma.

"I do not need a babysitter," he told the prince.

Koenma nodded. "I agree, but you do need someone to keep an eye on you. Your body has built up a resistance to the pills. If you keep taking those pills, you might not be able to return to either your human or demon form."

"So I will become a hanyou," Kurama said slowly.

Koenma nodded. "And we both know that you can't afford that happening so it's best if you return to Spirit World so that we can find a substitute drug."

"Or until my body is no longer immune to the drug," Kurama added.

Koenma shook his head. "I'm afraid that is no longer possible. Your body has already absorbed too much of the drug. You'll be forever immune to it now."

Kurama nodded slowly, and a thought suddenly hit me.

"What about your plan?" I asked Kurama. "Can it be put off for a week?" I wasn't sure what the plan was, but I knew Kurama well enough that he probably had asked that person he was talking with at the bar to help us or something.

Before Kurama could reply, Koenma said, "At this point in time we are thinking months."

Kurama's mouth became a grim line as he said, "Before we leave, I need to talk to someone."

"Take Tsukino-san with you then."

Kurama shook his head. "It's too risky."

Koenma's face turned slightly red in anger. "Kurama, you have to take Tsukino-san with you wherever you go and to be back in the inn in one hour. Understand? That is final!"

The next second the screen of the mirror went black. Kurama and I were silent for a minute after the mirror turned off before I realized that I was only dressed in a bathrobe. Though it was probably the wrong time to be realizing this, I started blushing and turned to go to the bathroom. Before I entered and without turning, I asked, "In five minutes, we leave to find the person you wanted to meet?"

He didn't answer, and I closed the door. Moments later, I appeared fully dressed in travelling clothes. Kurama was sitting on his bed staring at the ceiling with a frown on his face.

"Ready to go?" I asked quietly.

Kurama shook his head. "We don't need to bother."

I frowned. "Why not?"

"I sent a lower level demon to deliver a message telling Kioshi-san that I need more time. His reply should be coming soon."

"How?"

"There has been a small minor demon following us for a while. It's Hiei's way of keeping an eye on us. I merely asked him if I could use the demon, and Hiei agreed."

"How did you do that if-" I remembered the powers of the Jagan Eye. To a certain extent the eye could control humans and weaker demons.

Kurama seemed to realize that I had figured out the answer to my question and did not say anything until there was a knock on the window. Silently, Kurama moved with all the experience of a thief and opened the window. A demon entered the room and stood on the floor. It was about the size of a kitten but looked like a small female human child only with dragonfly wings for arms and gray skin. The creature was no older than a day, and yet they were using it for a messenger. Disgust erupted in my stomach, but I forced it back as I reminded myself that the small demon was safe as dragonflies were quick moving creatures.

The demon only stayed long enough for Kurama read the note and then write a reply. Then it disappeared outside into the day while we waited for Botan.

"Kiosh-san agreed to give me more time to think and told me to meet him at the Nishi in what used to be Yomi's territory when I have an answer," Kurama explained as I sat down on my bed. "I just sent a reply agreeing to his suggestion."

I frowned. "Are you sure that it's a good idea for us to go there? Sure it's been a year, and they probably think that I'm dead, but I don't really look different from when I left."

Kurama nodded. "However, you are also pretending to be my slave and will be wearing the cloak. For now we'll just wait and see if we even return."

"I'm sure that Koenma-sama will figure something out."

"However, the damage may have already been done."

I could think of nothing to say to that and fell silent as I started to read my book. The murderer was just about to be discovered when Kurama suddenly said:

"You disliked us having such a small demon act as our messenger?"

I didn't look up from my book but shrugged. "I just don't like the idea of putting an innocent in the line of fire."

Kurama nodded but muttered something under his breath that I didn't catch. It sounded like 'never insect', but I was most likely wrong.

We were silent until Botan arrived dressed in a dark purple cloak with a light violet hood with a cross on the cloth above her forehead. Her nose, mouth, and forehead were also covered but with a gray violet piece of cloth and her dress underneath was a dull pink. The whole outfit made her look like a druid or a fortune-teller.

Once my own cloak was securely on, and Kurama and I had our bags, we followed Botan into the day. I followed close behind Botan as we were forced to speak in hushed tones. Kurama kept an eye out for trouble as we walked. It was odd seeming Botan so focused. Usually she was bouncing off the walls, but today she was almost as calm as Kurama was.

"Koenma didn't mention anything that happened to you with us," Botan replied when I asked her why she kept asking questions about my wellbeing.

"He probably didn't want you to worry," I whispered. "I'm fine though. Kyou-kun was a good partner."

Botan nodded. "We'll be at the portal soon so keep close because it will close once we pass through so we have to go through as a group."

Kurama and I nodded, and soon Botan was knocking on a door of an old building. It creaked open to show a bunch of ogres running around delivering papers. We held hands and jumped through; the portal closing behind us. Most of the ogres didn't even pause in their work, but a blue ogre with yellow hair and a tiger skin cloth came running over.

"Botan!" he shouted. "Koenma-dono also wants to see you in his office."

"I wonder what he wants now," Botan muttered thoughtfully before turning to me. "I guess we'll have to catch up later. See you Tsukino-chan."

I nodded and turned my attention back to the ogre who was talking to Kurama.

"Koenma-dono also wants you to go to the infirmary right now for blood tests. He says that we need to get as much of the drugs out of your system as we can."

Kurama nodded, and the ogre turned to me.

"Welcome to Spirit World, Tsukino-san."

I nodded. "Thank you. Is there anywhere I shouldn't go here?"

The ogre paused for a moment before saying, "The only place I can think of would be the vault."

"Where's that?"

The ogre frowned in confusion. "You don't remember?"

I tried not to think about the guilt that came as I remembered the last time I was in the vault. Under Enma's control, I had almost killed the detectives. Luckily, Hiei had been fast enough to stop me. "I have a vague idea from when King Enma was controlling me but I don't really know **where** it is."

The ogre was about to reply when Kurama shook his head. "There is no need, George. I'll show her. It's on the way to the infirmary."

George nodded. "Good luck with the tests then," he said before running off leaving Kurama and I in the middle of the Spirit World message base.

Kurama wasted no time and grabbed my hand before leading me down on of the many hallways of Spirit World. Soon we came to a huge green door that I vaguely remembered.

"This is the door to the vault," Kurama announced. "Behind it is a series of traps and pitfalls as well as many treasures. I would not recommend ever going in there unless you have a trained Spirit World staff member with you or an experienced thief."

I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "Like you?"

Kurama nodded. "Yes, like me." He was silent for a moment before he said, "Tsukino-san?"

I turned to face him.

"I'll find you once the tests are over, and we can talk to Koenma about our options for the mission."

I nodded. "I heard there was a library here. Where is that-?" Suddenly, I was grabbed around the waist and held tight. "Botan-chan!" I managed to gasp. The arms released me and I turned around to see that I was wrong. The person who had hugged me had brown hair not blue. It wasn't Botan; it was Keiko.

"You don't even remember your own not mother? I'm hurt," she said as she released me.

My eyes were wide in shock and confusion. "What are you doing here? You can't be dead yet."

Keiko grinned. "I'm not. I'm just here to drop off Yusuke's lunch."

I frowned. "Why does Yusuke-kun need a lunch? I thought he was only visiting Koenma-sama."

Keiko frowned. "You mean you don't know that the guys are-"

"Looking for an ancient recipe for Yukina that only Spirit World knows. No, I'm afraid that I forgot to tell you, Tsukino-san," Kurama suddenly said.

I had forgotten that he was still present and turned to face him. "Spirit World has recipe books?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded. "Forty thousand in fact."

I frowned but could think of no reason for Kurama to lie to me so I accepted his word. "Do they need any help?" I asked Keiko.

She shook her head. "There's no rush and besides you, Botan, and me need to catch up." With a grin, she started to run down the hall. "I'll come find you once I drop this off to Yusuke."

I nodded and turned to Kurama as I took off the cloak. "I guess I'll give this to you to hold onto so that you can find me."

He shook his head. "I'd rather you keep it so that it doesn't get any germs on it from the infirmary. I'll find you by using Keiko's scent. Just try to keep out of trouble."

I nodded and started to follow the direction that Keiko had ran off in when Kurama's next words caused me to freeze.

"And thank you for your help."

* * *

**A/n: There is chapter seven and in case my description of Botan's disguise didn't make any sense. It's a mix between the anime fortune-teller outfit she worn in episode 5 and the one she worn in the manga when she was telling Yusuke he was the new spirit detective. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading and the reviews. I hope to hear from you and see you at the next chapter.**

**-D101**


	8. Leave Her Alone

_Disclaimer: I've out of creative disclaimers so I'll just say, "I only own my OCs and the plot."_

* * *

_Recap: _Kurama recaps.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Eight  
****The Cause of Division**

Day Forty-One

Due to the frequency of the tests and the mind-numbing discomfort that followed them, I have fallen behind in my report. For that reason, I will give a quick summary of what happened from Day Ten (July 13) until today, Day Forty-One (August 13).

After my first day of tests, I felt light-headed and dizzy, similar to when one sits up too fast only this was more prolonged. Thankfully, Tsukino and Keiko were not far from the infirmary, and once I had answered their questions about my condition to the best of my ability, we walked towards Koenma's office. Once we were at the door, Keiko said goodbye to Tsukino and ran off in the direction of the library while we entered the office.

Koenma was sitting at his desk stamping the magnitudes of paper that seemed to get larger instead of smaller as he worked. He stopped once we entered the room and ordered us to sit down.

Grateful for a chance to rest, I almost collapsed in the chair.

"How do you feel, Kurama?" Koenma asked as if he didn't already know.

"No better than one would expect," I replied, as I pushed my slowly turning red hair out of my face.

Koenma nodded and turned to Tsukino. "What about you, Tsukino-san?"

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise before she looked down at her shoes. The last time she had been in this room had not been pleasant. I wouldn't be surprised if she was expecting the worst. "I'm fine, Koenma-sama," she replied.

Koenma nodded once more. "Well, I expect you are both tired. Ogre will show you to your rooms. We will talk about the mission later when you are both rested, and when Kurama isn't suffering from the after-effects of the pills." He paused as if thinking of something before turning to Tsukino. "I need to talk to Kurama for a moment so Ogre will show you to your room. Kurama will be just across the hall."

She nodded and then left the room. At the same time, so did Koenma's calm and polite façade. He collapsed into his chair and let out a sigh. "At least the hard part is over," he muttered.

"Care to explain, Koenma?" I asked, looking away from the door.

"You can sense it can't you? Her energy is starting to increase more than is healthy. It's best if we try to keep her as calm or happy as possible."

In all honesty, I had not noticed a change, but that was probably because I was around her so much that I missed the subtle changes. "So that was why you were trying to be so calm," I muttered.

Koenma nodded. "Yes, however that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. Did she use her energy at all while you were in Demon World?"

I frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"Before you and Tsukino-san left, Spirit World did a scan on her genetics. If she did not use her powers she should have been fine for at least another year."

"She used them briefly this morning while I was having a coughing fit."

"What?!"

"I had already taken one pill which caused the coughing fit. My coughing woke Tsukino up, and she brought me another pill, which I did not take. The coughs got worse, and I suppose Tsukino accidently gave me some of her demon energy because when I looked in the mirror, I didn't see any signs of the transfer, but I could sense it."

"How long was she doing that for?!"

"A minute or two. I didn't notice until I looked in the mirror."

Koenma nodded sombrely. "That explains why her energy is that way." He sighed. "Perhaps it would be best if I take you both off the case until we can find a cure for Tsukino-san's problem."

I shook my head. "She would have to return to the prison then."

Koenma frowned. "I forgot about that, but it's too dangerous for you and her to be travelling with the war between cats and dogs going on."

"However, there is no telling how long the war will last. It would be better to leave now and get the mission done as soon as possible to avoid the major conflict."

He slowly nodded. "I agree, but it is too risky to send you two back in right now. Perhaps I'd better send in another team to apprehend The Fox's Rose."

I shook my head. "You had a hard enough time trying to find a mission for Tsukino-san before, and if you take her off the mission she will have to return to the prison. Surely we can both agree that is the last place we want her right now considering how Enma already decided her punishment, and we can't change it."

"However, sending you both back to Demon World could be just as bad if we cannot find a substitute drug and if you cannot keep her safe."

I was silent for a few seconds. Koenma had a point. Up to that point, I had not done anything to prove that I was actually a decent protector considering how whenever I returned to the inn room, The Fox's Rose scent would be lingering inside. However, if she returned to the prison, there would be no telling when she would be able to escape. She could reach the fourth stage before we even found a new mission and by then it would be too late. If we returned to Demon World, I would at least be able to keep an eye on her.

I voiced this argument, and Koenma grudgingly agreed. Soon afterwards, George led me to my room where I collapsed onto my bed for the time behind and instantly fell asleep.

Between the different tests to purge my system of the drug and Koenma's overflowing paperwork, we did not speak any more of the matter until the new pills were ready. In the meantime, when I was feeling well, I showed Tsukino around Spirit World, carefully avoiding the vault and the library. When she asked to see the library I would say that it was off-limits to anyone but Spirit World staff. It was half-way true, but if she asked for permission she could have gone inside and discovered Yusuke and Kazuma.

Within six days, she tried of exploring Spirit World, and I found that I was starting to have problems moving around because of the tests. When Yusuke saw me sitting in a wheelchair that Botan had kindly gotten me, he joked that soon my hair would fall out too. I only shook my head and replied that other than a constant pain in my legs and arms when I moved them, I was perfectly fine. Tsukino had been talking with Keiko at the time in the mixed-demon's room so I felt it was safe to ask Yusuke about any information he may have found. The results were not comforting.

"THE BASTARDS RIPPED UP EVERY FILE! EVEN THE ONES WITH NO NAMES! DO YOU KNOW HOW ANNOYING IT IS TRYING TO FIND HER FILE AND INFORMATION IN THAT MESS!? IT'S LIKE LOOKING FOR TWO THOUSAND SCREWS IN A PILE OF A MILLION NAILS!" Yusuke all but shouted in a sudden burst of frustration that he must have been hiding under his joking demeanour.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I tried to calm him down and speak quieter lest Tsukino learn what we were doing.

Yusuke was panting in anger as he said, "Enma the Bastard strikes again. Not only did he order everyone close to us to be brutally tortured if they got thrown in jail but he also had all the files on mixed-demons ripped up and burned."

"Were any files saveable?"

Yusuke nodded. "Barely and we are working on fixing the personal files with information on actually mixed-demons to see if we can find one who survived the stages, but for the most part we'll have to rely on the Spirit World Research staff. They were doing a study on mixed-demons recently and didn't destroy their files even when ordered by Enma."

"It is to our favour that the researchers care for their work so much then."

Yusuke nodded, and with that bit of heartening news, the women joined us again before Yusuke and Keiko left to return to Human World. Since I was feeling too physically drained to go anywhere, Tsukino and I started to work on helping her regain her ability to write Japanese in case she lost her knowledge of spoken Japanese again. We continued these lessons and even went beyond what Kazuma had taught her after we managed to break the barrier in her mind that blocked the knowledge.

Soon I was able to move without any pain once more, so Tsukino and I took to wandering the halls of Spirit World once more. This time, however, we came up with games to amuse ourselves. 'I Spy' seemed to be her favourite game so we played it often and in many different places.

A few times though, Tsukino would run off without a word with a deep blush on her face. Before leaving Spirit World to start the mission, Botan had warned me about what Tsukino believed to be messed up genetics. Tsukino wasn't old enough to know how mating worked so she wasn't aware that if her mate died after marking her but before mating her she would find herself subconsciously looking for a suitable mate during certain seasons. I'm currently under the impression that she is a Hraru (Demon World Spring), but it is almost mid-summer now so perhaps she was similar to my problem, which is year round.

I doubt that her curse was active all year round because she seems to have problems controlling it. Urges felt by demons who are seasonal are stronger than urges felt by demons who are daily due to the fact that the daily demons always feel the urges and are used to them. However, there are incidents when even daily urges can be as strong as seasonal ones. The incident with the slime ogre attacking her when we first re-met is a good example. I'm still not sure what would have happened if there wasn't that noise in the alley that distracted us.

However, if Botan's information about Tsukino's season being Hraru is correct, why she is acting that way towards me now in mid-summer? Unless-

Even with the games that we created, we both started to feel confined and restless. The news that the new pills were ready was a godsend. However, Koenma was still unwilling to allow us to leave. When we realized that either one of us was going to change our minds, we left the matter to Tsukino's judgement. Without hesitating, she said that she wished to returned to Demon World and complete the mission.

Preparations were completed, and we readied to go. Now we are merely waiting for the portal, and George is briefing us.

"The war has gotten a bit worse, and more cities are either pro-cat or pro-dog. So be careful to avoid the pro-cat cities unless you think you can avoid getting into a fight." He hands me a file, and a small black hole opens in front of us.

Tsukino jumps in first and I'm about to follow when Koenma, who was seeing us off, says, "Kurama. Keep her safe, she's probably the only pure soul mixed-demon left."

I nod and dive into the portal. Just as I leave Spirit World, I overhear George say to Koenma that this break was just what we needed. I can only hope that he is right.

* * *

The Welcome Committee

I never thought I would be so happy to be back in Demon World. Even if the wind caused queasiness, it felt almost like paradise compared to the restless I felt back in Spirit World. Everything was just too organized. That was probably why I liked Human World so much. It was a healthy medium between Demon World chaos and Spirit World peace.

As I was stretching my wings and arms, enjoying the feel to be on the move again, Kurama jumped out of the portal and stood beside me.

"Glad to be back?" He asked. His voice was no longer the light human tone it was while in Spirit World, but I didn't even notice a difference. The warmth of humanity was still present in it.

That was another thing that changed. Originally, I would have been worried about returning to Demon World because of all the chaos, but it was a nice change. Similarly, I would have preferred to avoid Kurama completely, but our time in Spirit World reminded me that he wasn't a pure demon anymore. He was slightly human and greatly changed by his time in Human World. While in Spirit World, I got to see a bit more of that side that I had missed the first time I was in Human World.

Unfortunately, I also managed to fall farther for him, but to be honest, I didn't care. I felt like I didn't have much time left and wanted to enjoy it. Also I was sure that if he once was a womanizer he had changed. Sadly, for once the logical part of my brain was silent and allowed me to ignore the fact that if he was planning on using me, that would be what he wanted me to think. So I smiled in reply to his question and said, "Yeah. I hope we get back to Human World before I'm sick of this place too."

Kurama nodded. "Then we'd better get moving."

I nodded in reply and quickly followed him down the road to Keisatsusho. We were about an hour from the town when Kurama handed me the cloak to hide my scent but before we even entered the city, I had to hand it to him. Just before entering Keisatsusho we spotted the welcoming committee who just happened to be a group of cat demons. Kurama suggested entering another way so that I wouldn't have to enter first, but I turned him down. It would take too much time to walk around and there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be cats patrolling around the city. So Kurama quickly slipped on the cloak to hide his canine features while I slipped on a bracelet to cover the slave mark Kurama had given me.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I led the way into the town. As we were entering, Kurama's hand wrapped around my wrist to comfort me. He let go after a second but kept close to me in case we were attacked. I had never truly been thankful that Kurama had come with me until then when my fear was most potent.

Though demon hearts didn't beat, I could have sworn that I felt something in my chest start to ache as if it was beating too fast as we entered the town. I knew that I was afraid, but I wasn't sure how to hide it so I kept walking right to the gates of the town. That is where the cats spotted us.

As we walked through the gates, one of them catcalled at me while another purred. Kurama moved closer to me and gently pushed me forward without having his arms move from under the cloak. I was about to move faster when our path was suddenly blocked by four cats. Two of which were female, one of which was the purrer.

"Hey kittens," said the cat that had purred at me. His black with brown stripes tail moved side to side as his yellow eyes looked me over. "Run into any foxes on the way over?"

Too late, I remembered that though the cloak covered Kurama's scent on him, it didn't cover the scent that was on me from him holding my hand. I nodded.

"One," Kurama said quietly, hoping to disguise the canine sound to his voice.

"I hope you aren't headed far, the dogs are running all over the place," said a twenty-year old queen. Her gold eyes looked us over as her black ears listened for sounds of approaching demons.

"I thought this was a cat only place," I replied.

A smaller male version of the queen who had just spoken glared at me and rolled his eyes. "Typical. Just like a bat to be misinformed." His tail was quickly pulled by the queen.

"Don't mind my brother. Neyash's just a brat." She held out her hand to me. "My name is Neyuki."

Hesitantly, I shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Tama, and this is my friend is Kyou-kun." With my free hand, I motioned to him.

"Does he ever say more than one word?" asked the other queen, as her green eyes 'undressed', as Yusuke would say, Kurama while her brown long-haired tail moved side to side in a seducing matter.

Not really paying attention, I replied, "Not usually," before returning my attention to Neyuki. "So what was that about the dogs here?"

"Those mutts and flying rats think they can go wherever they want now," a Neyash spat before Neyuki hit him on the head. She reminded me strangely of Shizuru when she did that.

"Ignore him. He never learned any manners."

"Not all of us are like that," said the male cat who had talked to me first. "I'm Neichi, Neyuki's cousin four times removed, by the way." He took hold of my hands and licked them.

I half-expected my curse to act up but to my surprise, all I felt was a slight trace of confusion. It must have shown on my face because Neyuki muttered, "It's just a customary greeting. No one uses it anymore though except for him."

I nodded and gave him a fake smile. "Nice to meet you," I replied before turning to Neyuki again. "So is the city overrun or something?"

She shook her head. "Not completely, just everything pass the Nishi. You know where that is right?"

I nodded. "I had a twin who worked there before…" I putted on a sad face and hoped I was a good actress.

"Before…?" Neyuki asked.

"She fell into Human World," I almost whimpered as I bit my lip a bit to make it look like I was going to cry.

Neyash was not impressed. "She's probably dead by now then," he said bluntly causing Neyuki to hit over the head.

"Gosh darn it Neyash! Can't you be nice for one second?!"

"Well it's true!" he argued back.

While they fought, Neichi rubbed my head between my ears. "Don't worry Tama-chan. I'm sure that she is alright, and you will one day meet up with her."

I heard a growling noise come from behind me, and I suddenly remembered about Kurama. I was about to turned around to look when Neichi gently grabbed my chin and tilted my face towards his.

"You know… if Kyou isn't giving you any comfort, you should really move on to a better cat," he murmured.

I forced back a wave of fear as I tried to give him a naïve smile with my eyes closed so that he couldn't see my emotions. "Thanks for the advice, Neichi-san." My eyes were jerked open as I was suddenly pulled closer to him.

He was grinning as he said, "Call me Neichi-kun."

I swallowed and tried to form a sentence. "T-Thank you Neichi-kun," I finally managed to say. In the background, I was vaguely aware of Neyash telling someone called Ayuri to leave someone alone because they obviously didn't want to sleep with her. However, most of my attention was on Neichi as he slowly moved his face closer to mine. Suddenly an arm appeared on my shoulder and pulled me away from Neichi.

"Leave her alone," Kurama quietly but firmly said as he held me close.

Neichi grinned. "So the kit has claws."

Kurama did not reply but released me as if he just realized that he was still holding me.

Worried that a fight might break out between the two and Kurama's cover be blown, I turned to Neyash, Ayuri, and Neyuki. "I'll see you guys around," I said as I grabbed Kurama's arm and pulled him away from them.

Neyuki just nodded as if she expected a fight to start and was relieved that it didn't. "See ya Tama-chan, Kyou-kun. Try to keep out of trouble at least until you have kittens."

I was about to turn around and reply to her comment about kittens when Neichi suddenly appeared in front of me again. He grabbed my hand and pulled me close. Before Kurama could do anything, he gently licked my cheek in what I assumed was another customary greeting. He took a step back and then winked at me.

"My offer is still open," he said before walking back to the other cats.

Again, I thought my curse was going to act up but thankfully I didn't feel anything other than the need to wipe off my cheek, which I did once we were out of their side.

"Did you find out anything between Neichi's flirting?" Kurama asked as we walked.

I shook my head. "Nothing about The Fox's Rose, but apparently everything from the Nishi over is dog territory."

Kurama nodded and started to lead the way to the dog side. After a few moments of silence, I quietly said, "Thanks for getting me away from Neichi-san."

For a moment, I thought that he hadn't heard until he said, "Consider it a returned favour for the help you gave me."

Unsure of what else to say, I nodded and followed him to the inn where he left me while he went to go find Kioshi. Again, what I expected and what actually happened were opposites. Rose did not show up to talk to me once Kurama was gone, but I was thankful for the time to think. I had never met another pure blood cat demon who was willing to talk to me as if I was not trash. Even Neyash, was kind compared to how demons usually treated me. What was even odder was that Neyuki was willing to explain some of the cat demons' customs to me. Any other demon would have just let me confused. I started to fall asleep as I waited for Kurama to come back and tried to continue to think. However, I soon mentally tired myself and found myself slipping into consciousness. Just before I fell asleep I found myself wondering, was Rose right?

* * *

Night of Day Forty-One and Forty-Two

I return to the inn where I left Tsukino not in the best of spirits. Though I had not found any signs of Kioshi anywhere, the chief cause of my displeasure was Neichi. I had been busy avoiding the cat demon named Ayuri's advances on me and was unable to help Tsukino until the last second. What gave him the right to do that? Granted that I'm not her mate but to openly flirt like that. We could have been dating for all he knew.

Biting back a growl at the thought of the infuriating cat demon, I open the door to a calming sight. Tsukino had fallen asleep on top of her covers, and the room was free of the scent of The Fox's Rose. A small smile crosses onto my face but since I'm too angry too sleep I go and took a bath. When I return, Tsukino is just as I left her only now she is shivering. My anger completely forgotten, I pick her up into my arms before moving the covers and placing her under them. She does not wake as I do this but once mutters something about apricots.

Silently, I wonder if this was what Yusuke felt when he looked at Keiko or Kazuma, Yukina. For reasons unknown to me, I felt nothing but anger when Neichi was close to Tsukino. I wanted nothing more than to rip out his throat when he touched her but was blocked by Ayuri when I went to get her away from him. Now, I just feel a calm quite different from the usual feeling induced by my demon form as I watch her sleep. It's nice.

However, not knowing the reason for my actions worries me. These unknown reasons could cause quite a bit of harm if I don't learn to control them. The only reason I can think of to explain my reaction was that my mating curse and the order that Koenma had given me had affected my subconscious causing me to act out of sorts.

Actually that is not completely true. There is another reason it could be, but until I know who The Fox's Rose actually is, I can't allow myself to think about it. Even though I did not intent for Mikiku and me to be mates, I have a duty to her now, and I cannot allow an imposter to ruin her good name. If only I could remember where I smelt that copper-like scent from before, then I might have an idea.

Tsukino turns over in her sleep, and some of her hair falls into her face. Smiling slightly, I brush the hair from her face and towards the back of her neck. At that moment, I catch sight of the teeth marks on her neck and quickly remove my hand.

What was I thinking?

Breaking away from my human thoughts, I turn my back on her for fear that the feelings would return. What had come over me to act like that, and when did I forget that she was mated? Better yet, when did I sink so low to feel that way towards mated females? The mating curse will not allow demons to go after already mated demons so what is happening?

I shake my head as I try to clear my thoughts, but I'm painfully aware of her scent in the room and the fact that she is laying behind me completely vulnerable.

Closing my eyes and shaking my head once more, I try to force my instincts back. The best way is to feel anger so I think of the only thing that has managed to anger greatly me in this form. Neichi.

My thoughts come to a stand-still instead of turning to rage like I had hoped. Neichi had also seen Tsukino's mark, but he still courted her. It wasn't possible that he missed it. I feel as if my stomach suddenly dropped from four stories when I fully realize why he was acting like that. He had marked her. She is his mate. But he wasn't dead so maybe…

Focusing, I sense for her energy. To my growing dread, I feel that her signature had a wavelength could be- probably is his. He isn't around for me to check, but I'm almost sure that his energy also has a similar signature to hers meaning that their energy is merged. They are mates.

But that doesn't explain why she acted that way around me when she is marked and her mate is alive and well.

A thought suddenly hits me when I remember something I had heard while I was still a full demon. Demons who are marked before they are fully mature are said to suffer the same symptoms as those who's mates have died before the mating has been cemented. Tsukino never mentioned getting the mark, and she doesn't even know what it is so Neichi must have marked her before she was fully mature.

They are mates.

A weight ties itself to my soul as I slowly piece this together. The facts keep taunting me, and I realize, like an idiot, I have fallen into the dangerous trap I had been avoiding for years.

There is no point trying to further any sort of relationship with her. As friends or lovers. There is no point. I'll only be hurting her and myself. If she does gain feelings for me and if Neichi does find out, she would most likely be killed. I don't have any choice about what my next move is. I have to do what is best for us.

For your own sake, please hate me, Tsukino.

* * *

**A/n: 1. Names starting with 'Ne' are completely fictional and should have no meaning, if they do, and it is offensive I apologize. I did not know.**

**2. Second update in two days! And I like this version better. Kurama sounds more like Kurama than some poetic teenager in this version. Logical but pained, that's Kurama. Anyways, thanks for reading and the reviews. I hope you are still enjoying the story! See ya next time!**

**-D101**


	9. Say It Instead Of Thinking It

**Warning: Stronger language used here and it is not recommended to listen to angry music. Sad is debatable and personally, preferable.**

_Disclaimer: I disclaim anything that isn't mine._

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_Recap:_ After a maddening stay in Spirit World, Kurama and Tsukino are back on the trail of The Fox's Rose. However, when they run into a group of cat demons, Kurama believes that he has found the male who marked Tsukino. With his logic flying right out the window due to his anger and sadness, Kurama creates a plan that will no doubt get him killed. Will his killer be Tsukino, another demon, or Keiko and Botan when they find out?

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Nine  
****The Division**

Heartbreak

The next morning when I awoke, there was no sign of Kurama, but there were also no sounds of coughing. So far so good, I decided as I looked around for a hint of Kurama's whereabouts. I wasn't as worried as I probably should have been but that was probably because I was excited to be back on the mission. Even after spending the night in a dirty Demon World inn, I was still glad to be out of Spirit World and ready to take on the mission.

My bright outlook was slightly dimmed by the arrival of Kurama as he entered the room using the front door. I can't pin-point exactly why I felt that way since Kurama showed no real signs of being in a bad mood other than being slightly stiff. However, the moment he entered the room I felt the same forbidding feeling as when I was giving him the pills. Perhaps, I somehow sensed that was going to happen.

Kurama also seemed to be wrapped up in his thoughts as he walked towards his bed. He failed to notice that I was awake until I almost shouted good morning at him for a third time. After a moment, he nodded and muttered morning in reply, and then he sat down on his bed and grabbed some breakfast from his bag.

"Did you find Kioshi-san?" I asked as I took grabbed some food from my bag to eat.

He shook his head. "No, he must have run into some of your relatives."

Since he was speaking louder, I heard a slight trace of irritation in his voice. Unsure of the cause of his frustration, I decided to remain quiet until we finished breakfast. I was about to ask what our plan for the day was when I suddenly changed my mind. Talking about the mission then was probably going to worsen his mood due to our lack of success. Instead I said, "We're running low on decent food," I held up a piece of fuzzy green bread for emphasis. "So we might as well go shopping for some more. We can also look for Kioshi-san some more. Maybe Neyuki-san knows where he is." Instantly, I wanted to take back the last part about Kioshi. While Kurama physically gave no signs of hearing me, but his energy had suddenly became more violent and sharp feeling. In that way, it was similar to Rose's energy that had felt like a slap to me.

Kurama's energy quickly calmed down though as he took his pill for the day. However, that threatening aura he was surrounding himself in was still loud and clear. I doubted he even noticed though because it wasn't like him to give any hint of his emotions if Yusuke and Kuwabara were to be believed. If he had noticed, he probably would have cloaked it somehow.

As I sat on my bed wondering about Kurama's odd behaviour, Kurama himself was busying getting ready for the day as he packed his belonging away in his bag.

Finally, I noticed that he was waiting by the door and quickly collected my own things and followed him out into the town. Since we were walking on the dog demon side of Keisatsusho, I wore the cloak and made the slave mark on my wrist visible while Kurama kept an arm around my shoulders. Unlike the last time in the City of Ghosts and Apparitions, he seemed slightly uncomfortable being so close to me. He hid it well, but his arm was stiff around my shoulders, and every so often he would start to pull away before he remembered our cover story.

Soon we had gotten enough food to last us and threw away the rotting food. Just as we were heading to the Nishi to look for Kioshi again, two drunken female dog demons wandered into our path. Blocking me from sight, Kurama tried to walk us pass them. Unfortunately, one of the dogs tripped and landed right in front of us.

With bloodshot eyes, she stared up at Kurama who coldly looked forward and walked around her. Somehow managing to jump to her feet without falling, she ran towards us. "Kurama!" she shouted like a war cry as she ran in front of us. "Damn Spirit Fox! How could you pick a damned-" She tried to slap his face but was blocked by his open palm creating something similar to a 'high-five.' The clapping noise out her words but she was quick to repeat the main idea of her rant. "A mixed-breed! A cat! Filth! You bastard traitor to pick a mutt like her!" For each word she tried to throw a punch at him but with practiced grace he easily blocked.

Then her partner jumped in as well also shouting profanities about Kurama in, what I assumed was, his past life. They shouted together, "Picking a mutt over us you snake!" as they both tried to kick him. By merely taking a step back, Kurama caused the two dog demons to fall on their faces and make their once white coats of fur brown with mud. Suddenly, just as quickly as their rage appeared, it disappeared. They started laughing and throwing mud at each other before standing up and happily walking off signing about airplane people crashing into aliens.

The entire road was silent for a minute after the two drunken dog demons left before it became busy once more as demons moved from store to store looking for food, information, or weapons. Similarly, Kurama and I continued on our way to the Nishi. However, before we reached our destination, we ran into a bit of trouble (cat demons scouting around) and had to take a detour into the park filled with demon eating plants in the middle of my hometown. The only reason the park was still standing was because so far no demon had been able to cut down the plants. Thankfully, Kurama's powers were working, and we were able to walk through the park until we came to the other side where the Nishi was located.

Since it was almost noon, we decided to take a break and eat something before continuing looking for Kioshi. As we ate, I hoped that food had improved Kurama's mood and tried to talk to him. "What will we do if we can't find Kioshi-san?"

Kurama took a bite out of his piece of meat. "We'll find him."

"And if we don't?"

He avoided looking at me and forcefully repeated himself. "We will find him."

Once I had chewed a bit of my own meal, I said, "Maybe the cats know what happened to him or where The Fox's Rose is. I could go ask-"

Kurama shook his head. "No, they would probably catch my scent on you and wonder why it hasn't faded from yesterday. It would lead to awkward questions."

I frowned. "So are we just going to keep looking around the dog side only? If he has been captured then-"

His bangs covered his eyes making it even harder to guess what he was thinking. "Then we accept that and keep looking for The Fox's Rose without his help."

"What if he is in trouble?"

"It is not our problem. Our mission is to only find The Fox's Rose and bring her to Spirit World."

I nodded. "I know that but I don't see why I can't go ask the cats where she is if I wash your scent off of me."

"There isn't a need for that."

"Then what can I do to help?"

He took another bite from his meal, completely uncaring. "Nothing. At this point, you're only getting away."

I frowned again. He was only stating a fact, but the way he said it make me wonder if he was intentionally trying to anger me. Before this, he never said anything that could anger me. He may have done things that made me mad, like throwing me into a lake, but he never verbally tried to anger me. The fact that I still couldn't see his eyes and he was talking in a level, emotionless voice also made me wonder what he was planning. Because of that, I replied, "So I guess you already have a plan and don't need my help?"

In the same level tone, Kurama replied, "Whoever said I needed your help? As far as I know Koenma only sent you to appease Yusuke and the others."

Confusion and anger appeared in me as I wondered why he was suddenly acting so off. I knew that I wasn't very useful right now and that Koenma probably only sent me to get me out of jail but did Kurama really need to tell me that? Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself and reasoned that Kurama was only acting like that because he was stressed and was dealing with it like any other fox. By being as infuriating as Hell. "What is your problem?" I mentally slapped myself. I had meant to ask what the plan was but instead my anger got the best of me. At least my curse isn't acting up, I thought to myself as Kurama replied:

"We are going to join the dog side of the war."

I bit back a catlike hiss of annoyance. Either he was a mind-reader or he had just changed the subject to one that made me even angrier. "When was this decided?"

"Last night."

"Why the dogs? Why are we even joining the war at all?"

"We are joining the war because it will be the easiest way to keep you out of trouble and allow me to go after The Fox's Rose. Also, because I'm a fox and you are part bat, it will be easier to join the dogs than the cats."

I couldn't think of anything to say until I remembered the rules of Human World. "I thought we were supposed to avoid fights," I said as I crossed my arms.

Though Kurama wasn't facing me, I was almost positive that he was smirking. "Only in Human World. You should know that unless you fight, you can't live in Demon World."

I glared at him. "Who says that I want to live in Demon World?"

Kurama finally turned to face me, and I almost cowered at the look in his eyes. He looked completely serious but also ruthless. I knew instinctually that if I gave him trouble, he would not show mercy. "Unless we complete this mission, it's either Demon World or Spirit World jail for you. And to complete the mission, you have to listen to me and I say that we are joining the dogs."

If there was one thing that cats hate doing, it's being bossed around by a canine. At that moment, my cat demon blood started to act up, and I suddenly found myself on my feet. "Do you even have any loyalty to the dogs?"

He seemed amused by the idea though he didn't show it. "Of course not. The only thing that matters is that we manage to capture the Fox's Rose."

"So the end justifies the means?"

He nodded. "That is correct."

For a second, Kurama reminded me of Stato as the cruel human looked over at me while half of Genkai's temple burned to the ground. Both were trying to reach a goal and were willing to kill anyone to get to it. The only difference was that Kurama was supposingly on my side, but as he sat there looking like Stato, I wasn't sure that I wanted to be on his side anymore. A shiver ran down my spine as I muttered, "We'll be killing innocent bystanders as well as enemy soldiers."

"Demons are never innocent or bystanders," Kurama said, his face completely blank once more.

Disgust ran over me in waves at the thought of pointless bloodshed and I felt sickened by his attitude. "How the hell would you know? Have you ever interacted with demons other than ones who go looking for trouble?"

Kurama nodded, appearingly bored with the conversation. "Once, and she proved to be not as innocent as I thought."

I glared back. "Did you ever think that you corrupted her?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Kurama's tail twitch, but when I looked towards it, it was laying flat on the ground. Kurama's voice quickly brought my attention back to his face though.

"Tama-chan, you need to calm down."

My eyes narrowed further. "How do you expect me to calm down when you are trying to convince me that I'm useless to the mission and should let you go ahead and help wipe out both the dog and cat demon race as well as any other demons who get caught in the crossfire!?"

In very controlled movements, Kurama slowly stood so that he was towering over me. His blue eyes glared down into mine, and for a moment, I was well aware of how terrifying Kurama The Spirit Fox once was. "I expect you to calm down because it is the truth and the best way we will complete the mission."

I knew that he was trying to scare me into submission but now my bat demon blood was also on the rise. I was not about to kill for no reason, not after accidentally killing two human men as they tried to kill me. After they fell off the building to their death, I decided that I wasn't going to kill. Be killed maybe not but not kill even if that was the only way. He should have known how I would react to the idea of killing since he was the one to comfort me after I saw the two gang members die. But if he did remember that, he was ignoring it and I would just have to subtly remind him that I do not kill.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to join the cats since she is actually **on- their- side?**" I demanded to know.

Kurama slowly crossed his arms. "Tell me how you plan to trick the cats into believing I'm an ally when I'm a fox and obviously a canine."

I was silent for a moment before I said quietly, slowly, and clearly, "This- is- wrong."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "What are your ideas then?"

I was silent with no ideas for the mission other than searching for The Fox's Rose. Kurama was right. We had no way to get to her unless we joined one side of the war but then we would be forced to kill. Or Kurama would be at least, since he was a fighter. It was hard to say what I would be forced to do.

He waited a few more seconds before nodding and turning his back to me to grab his things. "Since we still have yet to see Kioshi-san, we'd best go to the recruitment office."

Anger caused by the fact that I had no more options left caused me to clench my fist so tight that my knuckles were white. I had not arguments left to say, and I could never beat him in a fight. However, there was no way that I was going to fight in the war. As Kurama ordered me to follow him, I remained where I was and quietly muttered, "Damn you."

I heard Kurama stop walking and turn around. "Pardon?" he asked, his voice challenging.

Suddenly, I was shouting. "Damn you, Kurama! I'm not going to let you do this! This is wrong! Killing is wrong no matter the reason!"

He was silent for a moment before he asked, "Are you sure you're a demon, Tama-chan?"

Pain added to anger. That bastard bringing up how I acted more human than demon. Even to a mixed-breed in times when humans were more accepted by demons, it was still an insult to be thought to be humanlike. I wouldn't be surprised if my heart actually beat because I acted so human, but that didn't mean that Kurama had to know that. "I could ask you the same question," I spat at him without looking at him.

"Then allow me to ask you another one," he walked over to me and lifted my chin so that I was looking into his eyes. "If you are so sure you are a demon, what kind of demon are you?"

My eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. I tried to slap him, but he caught my arm. When I tried to pull it away from him, he forcefully moved my arm to my side and held it there while his other hand held my face.

"You don't know do you?" he asked.

I kicked his shin and growled when he didn't let go.

"I'm not letting go until you answer my question."

I turned my face and bit his hand, causing him to let go. Without answering him, I walked towards the town in the direction of the cat side. "Have fun with the dogs and bats. I'm sure you'll all get along fine if the rest truly are asses like you."

"Do you really think they like you?"

His question caused me to pause in my steps.

I could almost hear his satisfaction when he continued. "Neyuki-san was probably just playing with your feelings like a normal cat so that she can get information about the bats from you."

I ignored him and was about to take a step away.

"Did I forget to mention that Neichi-**kun** just wants you to play with?"

Even if he had shouted the words could not have hurt more. My bat and cat demon blood called on me to defend the only side of the war that was actually kind to me and I listened. Turning on my heel, I faced Kurama and gave him the deadliest glare I could muster. "One, cats don't mess with people's heads the same way **foxes** do. Two, if they wanted information on bats they could ask Rose-san or the bats they have no doubt captured. And three, Neichi-kun does **not** like me that way!"

Though Kurama's voice showed no signs of it, his eyes were vivid with anger. Once again, I had to stop myself from taking a step back as he replied, "Really? Because from where I was standing he seemed quite interested in your mouth. I suppose you were too distracted by his lips to notice. Living with a curse must be difficult."

This time, I did hiss at him like the cat I partially was even though tears were starting to appear in my eyes. Why was he acting like this now after we were so close in Spirit World? I asked myself. Why now after I had grown so attached to him? "Those are a sign of greeting between any two cat demons. Even if they don't know each other. But an **arrogant** fox wouldn't know that, now would he?"

He actually frowned, and I felt a small bit of me smile inside that I was able to get him to show some emotion clearly. "If you weren't busy allowing Neichi to lick all over you, you would have realized that I was busying with Ayuri's advances."

Rose's words about him being a womanizer echoed in my head, and I ignored the fact that Ayuri started flirting with Kurama, not the other way around. "Good another girl for your collection then!" I shouted.

I was wishing that he would at least start yelling so that I would submit to his leadership, but he just kept talking in his emotionless voice. If there ever was a time that I missed the human Kurama it was now. At least he would have been able to show some emotion so that I could know what he was thinking without having to guess.

"At least I have honest girls looking at me. How many men ever looked at you that were actually half-way decent?"

"Shut the hell up!"

His eyes were no longer angry but cool and merciless. He wasn't going to hold back the worst of his verbal attacks anymore. "Suppose you have to take what you get though, what with that curse."

"If you think that I'm a whore, come out and say it already then!"

I waited for him to say that but he was silent until he said, "I'll let your actions say it for me."

Tears started to prick at my tears but I tried to hold them back and instead concentrated on my anger instead of the sharp feelings of heartbreak. I was a fool to ever think that he might actually care. "You-"

Kurama's face became thoughtful suddenly, and I was shocked into silence. "While we are on the topic of cats being manipulative, Neyuki-san only taught you some of the customs of the cats to gain your trust and affection. It appears that it worked if you are so willing to fight against me."

"You want to kill innocent demons!"

He blinked at me. "And you think that the cats won't have us do the same? You really are naïve, Tama-chan." He appeared thoughtful again. "Perhaps that is why Neichi is so interested in you. He can see that you're easy to trick and eager to please."

"Just shut up, Kurama!"

"We both know that he doesn't want you for more than sex, Tama-chan. It's best that you face that fact. After all, what male would love you when not even your own birth mother cared."

The last few words were muttered as if he didn't want to say them, but it didn't matter. I still heard him loud and clear.

Stepping forward, I slapped him across the face with all the strength I had. Before he could retaliate, I turned away and ran to the town. Tears started to run from my eyes, and I ran blindly concentrating on not completely breaking down more than where I was going. Finally, I found myself at a safe spot where I knew that Kurama would never find me. Throwing open the door, I ran inside and struggled to lock it before anyone asked why I was entering a dead demon's house. Once the door was locked, I climbed onto what was once my bed and broke down into sobs as confusion attacked me. How in the three worlds had I fallen for that asshole? I asked myself. And more importantly, what did I do to make him become that asshole when he was so sweet before? What did I do?

* * *

Day Forty-Two

As she runs away from me, I can't help but take a step towards the direction she ran in. But before as my human and demon instincts cause me to run after her, I take two steps back. Even if I was to go after Tsukino, I wouldn't be able to find her now. She is still wearing Suzuka's cloak that hides her scent, and I don't know her well enough to know where she would go. I should have at least given her some way to contract the others though but there was no way to do it without ruining my plan. Now I have to live with my decision and hope that Neichi is at least a good mate to her and that I can catch The Foxe's Rose so that Tsukino will be free to live as she choices.

Still though, I never thought it would take so much to make her leave. More than once, I almost forgot myself and almost apologized before I spotted her mark and reminded myself that if I don't distance myself she could be killed. Hopefully this is only a human attachment that will vanish in the time I'm separated from her. I managed to forget her once (admittedly with difficultly), and I'll just have to hope I can do it again.

My resolve cemented, I turn back to the forest where a bat demon sits in a tree looking down at me. "You sure you want her to go?" Kioshi asks as he jumps down from the tree. "She's a pretty cute batty-cat."

Mentally drained from the fight, I nod. "It's for the best."

He shrugs. "If you say so, but we'd better hurry before the recruitment office closes."

I nod again and start to follow him but can't help but look over my shoulder before running after him. She'll be safe, I decide. She has to be.

***

We arrive moments later at an old meeting hall built in the time when human and demons wandered both worlds, and demons were free to act as we pleased. Now the hall has fallen into ruin as the roof threatens to collapse, and the walls are green with mould and mildew. As we wait in line, Kioshi plays with his hat.

"You know, I was surprised that you actually had the nerve to go through with it," Kioshi suddenly says causing me to look away from the front of the line and towards him. "When you suggested the idea to me this morning, I thought you were going to crack at the first glare she gave you."

"Why did you think that?" I ask.

"I knew your old man."

A face flashes through my mind. A face blurred by years of forgetting. How could my human father have known this demon? It's not possible… Unless, he isn't referring to my human father… But he can't have known my original father because I didn't even know him. I'm not even sure if my mother knew who he was.

Kioshi continues talking as if he has not noticed my shock. "He had a similar problem with a girl, only whenever she got sad or mad, he instantly collapsed and either made her laugh or forgive him. Probably because he couldn't afford to lose the bet."

I frown. "What bet? Who are you talking about?"

"You know-"

"Name?" A bored voice asks, cutting Kioshi off.

Turning to look in front of us, I realize that we are at the front of the line and a bored dog demon is playing with his pen as he sits at a table waiting for my reply.

"Name?" the dog demon repeats.

"Katsu, from the west fox tribe," I reply.

"Abilities?"

"Plant manipulation."

"Mentor?"

"I'm self taught."

"Reason for joining?"

I pause for a moment, knowing that depending on my answer I will either be able to find Tsukino or be forced to join the war and see it through. "Revenge," I finally reply.

The dog demon nods and gives me my papers. "Welcome to the war. Try not to get killed within the first few minutes.

With that the fate of the mission and Tsukino are sealed. Please have let me picked the right choice.

* * *

**A/N: So there is it. Kurama being an idiot again, and once again I like this version better. I think it keeps them in character a bit more and it is more believable for them to fight like this. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying the story and thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope to hear from you and see you at the next chapter. See ya!**

**-D101**

**P.S Please don't kill me.**


	10. Kurama Stop Being a Jackass

_Disclaimer: I own only my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ After a huge battle of words, Tsukino and Kurama go different ways to try to meet their goals. Neither looks back as they walk off, but both feel the effects of a broken heart.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Ten  
****Welcome to the War**

Day Forty-Three

Unlike wars in the Human World, demon wars consist of little planning and moving of troops, and more senseless fighting. Admittedly, there are some similarities between the two types of warfare but they are few. In both kinds, a leader will be 'elected' to lead the army and he will have generals, but depending on the leader the war will either be ruthlessly planned or rushing into things and worrying about the damage after the fact. Unfortunately, both the dogs and the cat demons seem to be following the latter technique. Though scouters are sent out to inspect enemy territory, their information is rarely taken truly into account and their presence is merely to worry the opposing army.

Also similar to human warfare (more specifically the Japanese in World War Two), in war demons do not follow the concept of surrender. There are a few who will have mercy but in this current time when so much stress has built up without being able to take it out on humans, they are few and far between.

There is one key difference between human and demon wars though. Despite what most would think due to demons living long and being able to fight longer, demon wars usually end quicker than human wars do. One reason this happens is because both armies are able to wipe each other out more rapidly than human can. Since demons overall are a usually violent race, due to where we gain our powerful, we have adapted methods of killing far more effective than even a nuclear weapon. Also, another reason why demon wars end faster is because we do not need to waste time moving troops from country to country. Most of the time spent in warfare in Human World is spent moving, eating, planning, and resting. However, demons can last many years without food and with our ability to run great distances effortlessly we do not waste much time travelling. Nevertheless, just like humans, demon also need our rest and for that reason, I was less than impressed when I awoke this morning to an annoying ringing sound.

I had not gotten much sleep that night as I sat up worrying about Tsukino. For whatever reason, I couldn't help but feel that I had put her in grave danger by leaving her like that. Because of that I found myself checking the spirit detective tool on my wrist almost every five minutes. It is a new item that I had asked Koenma to make for Tsukino and me in case we were separated.

The item looks like a compass attached to a strap to wear on one's wrist. To put it simply, the new device is a combination of the Demon Compass and the Megiru Seal. Once homed on a certain person's energy signature, the Megiru Compass will indicate the distance and direction of the person as well as their condition of health. The face of the compass has the same function as the Megiru Seal. When it is blue, the person is well and unharmed. When it turns yellow, the person is slightly harmed, but when red it meant that the person was seriously injured. However, unlike its precursor, the compass can not fall off one's wrist to show that the person is dead. Instead the face of the compass will turn black.

Also, the compass will still function when the person is dead and be able to locate the body. In the center of the compass, there is a diamond; one half is red with a picture of a white soul on it, while the other side is white. To find the person, living or dead, all one would have to do is walk in the direction that the red point is pointing. Also, below the diamond there is a small gauge that will tell the user the distance in kilometres with a decimal point to make it easy to convert to metres.

Additionally, there is a button to push on the lower left hemisphere of the compass face. When that button is pushed, the compass will instantly home on the energy signature of the person who pushed it. Before we left Spirit World, Botan and Koenma tested out the watches on Tsukino and me while we were sleeping. When I asked why they did not try it while we were awake, they answered that the compass drained a small amount of life-energy that would cause us to pass out if we clicked it while we were awake. They figured that it would make more sense to have us click it while we were already asleep so that we would be able to recover from the energy loss.

Finally, my compass has an additional feature. Around the edge of the compass face are the numbers one to five a symbol of what stage Tsukino is at. As she moves closer to another stage, the arrow will move closer to a number.

It was because of this extra feature on my compass that I never got around to giving Tsukino her compass or telling her about it. She would have noticed the numbers and wondered what they were for. Also, my plan would not have worked as well because I would have had to remove the watch during the fight to make her think that I didn't care about what happened to her.

If it wasn't for the watch, Yusuke probably would have come to Demon World and killed me right now. As it is, he already is less than pleased with me and is making his views known.

The ringing I awoke to was Yusuke trying to contact me using the mirror. Somehow he had heard from Koenma who had been watching our progress about Tsukino's and mine fight, and now I am listening to Yusuke demand to know what I was thinking as I try to get rid of the urge to fall back to sleep.

"-And stop being a jackass and go get her!" Yusuke finishes yelling, panting for breath as he glares at me with narrowed eyes.

After swallowing my pill for the day, I say, "I apologize Yusuke but-"

He quickly swallows a great mouthful of air and shouts, "I don't care! Go and make sure that she is okay!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"We both know that the mission isn't nearly as important to you as her safety! Isn't that why you didn't want to get any information from her before?"

My patience is already running low from the stress of the mission and Yusuke's lecture has done nothing to improve it. "If you recall correctly, Yusuke, I suggested the most logical plan that would get the mission done as quickly as possible. You were the one who insisted on wasting time. Also, the compass face is blue; she is perfectly fine right now." I show him the compass to prove my point.

"That watch doesn't give an advanced warning though! What if she gets attacked!? You won't know about it until after the fact!"

"That won't happen. She is safer being as far away from me as possible."

Yusuke's eyes narrow even more, and his voice somehow managed to get louder. "Oh really? If **I** remember correctly, the last time you started distancing yourself from her, she got forced into attacking us, got two human killed and ended up in Spirit World jail where she ended up hitting the second stage!"

"That is enough, Yusuke," I say peremptorily.

"Enough is when you get your head in gear and go and get her back! Now go get her!"

Before I can say anything else, he closes the connection leaving me to my thoughts.

I am not alone with my thoughts long though because within minutes of Yusuke finishing the call and my updating my journal, Kioshi bursts into my inn room saying that we have to report to the den as soon as possible. Since there are many cuts in his black suit and a few on his face mask, I quickly gather my things and follow him out of the room. We are about to enter the bar of the inn when a cat demon spots us. It hisses at us, and Kioshi reaches for his sheathed weapon at his side. Silently, I place a hand on his shoulder and step in front. As the cat grins and enlarges its claws, I calmly grab a seed from my hair. Holding it in front of me, I will it to grow as the cat lunges towards me. Instantly, my death tree reveals itself, and the kitten stops in his tracks. Without even looking back, he runs out of the bar allowing us to continue.

"You're not really self-taught, are you?" Kioshi asks as he moves beside me as we leave the bar using the back door.

"Not exactly," I reply as we step onto the streets. "I suppose we have to report this to the army so that they can send troops?"

Kioshi shakes his head. "No idea. All I know is that some old dog demon told me to find some useful troops and get back to the Den."

"Are we picking anyone else up?"

"No, all the rest are glory hounds with barely any brains." He pauses for a moment to look out of the alley. After checking both ways, he says, "Alright, the hideout is a few hundred miles run from here. If we want to get there in one piece, we'd better move now." He starts to step out into the open to go straight across the road, but I pull him back.

"Then I would suggest not going that way. Cats are coming from our left, and if we want to keep in one piece we have to keep downwind of them or they'll find us," I explain before he can yell at me.

He nods. "Which way to you suggest then?"

I point to the right. "If we run fast enough and if they are only in the war for the bloodshed and glory, we should have no problems."

"And if they aren't?"

I reach to my hair and pull out a vine that wraps around my right arm and quickly forms a sword like blade extending from my wrist. "Does it really matter?"

Though his mask, I barely see a grin as he pulls out his weapon. In the light of the dawning sun, it sparkles as Kioshi almost lovingly runs his hand over the scythe-like blade connected to a silver string-like wire. He notices my staring and says, "Got it from my old man. Meaning that if you take this, you **will** die."

I am about to ask who his father was when we hear something fall over in the alley. "Time to move out," I calmly suggest before running down the alley with all the speed my demon body can supply. Unfortunately, I am unable to reach my maximum speed because of the buildings but once we are out of the city, I take off in the direction Kioshi told me the headquarters of the dog army (also known as the Den) was in.

After a few moments, I hear him shout, "Damn it! Will you slow down?"

I stop running and a wave of dust blows pass me as I wait for Kioshi to catch up. When he is within talking distance, I say, "I thought I said if we were fast we wouldn't have to worry about attacks."

Kioshi lands beside me and straightens his hat. "But there aren't any cats for miles."

"And if they are fast on their feet they could be here in minutes."

"They'd have to be as fast as you," Kioshi says as he sits down. "Damn it, my wings are all sore from trying to keep up."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner then?"

"Because I didn't start having a problem until we reached the city limits and you started to be a speed demon."

"Perhaps we should continue on foot then."

Kioshi raises his hands as if exasperated though his voice shows that he is merely joking. "Oh sure! Now you are willing to slow down."

I turn my back to him and start walking. "If you are done with your theatractics, we'd best get moving. There is no telling how long until the cats catch our scents."

With an exaggerated sigh, Kioshi leaps to his feet and starts to lead the way to the location of the Den. We arrive about nightfall at the entrance to an old bear demon cave with strong steel doors just as the guards are closing the doors for the night. Reluctantly they allow us to enter and hand us over to an almost dead looking wolf. Some elders grow more powerful in age, others, such as the male wolf demon, grow weaker. Though the wolf demon's energy is weak, he is quite steady on his feet, and gives us a tour of the base.

As we walk away from the door as we see that the cave floor and ceiling slope downwards, though the outside landscaping give no hint of this. The wolf warns us to duck a bit, and Kioshi and I find ourselves crawling on hands and knees due to our height for at least half a kilometre before the ceiling lifts so that we can walk normally once more.

"The water that formed this cave did not manage to crave away as much stone here, and we cannot broaden the tunnel for it will collapse, so you'll just have to crawl whenever you want to pass through the front door," the elder says as he waits for us to stand up.

It is at that moment that Kioshi, and I realize that the walls are a perfect rectangle and lined with a dense black stone.

"This isn't Black Demon Diamond, is it, elder?" I ask as Kioshi touches the walls to be sure that they are as smooth as they appear.

A nod from the elder confirms my suspicions, but he does not explain how the dog army transported the stones to the cave.

Though worthless for jewellery, Black Demon Diamonds are probably the hardest substance in Demon World. Unfortunately, due to it being also being impossibly heavy, it is impractical for armour or weapons. The dog army seems to have found some way cut it and to move it though and surrounded the ceilings, floors, and walls with the hard stone. Because of the diamonds, light reflects off the walls and often blinds bystanders. For this reason, the whole base is lit with torches because firelight is easier on the eyes and most of the demons present cannot see in the dark.

After looking at the stones for a moment longer we follow the elder into the maze, which is the final defence for the dog army. Inside the maze are rooming units for troops, bars in various turns of the maze, an armoury, a jail as well as torture room, and a planning room. Once the wolf is sure that we know where everything is, he shows us our rooms in the rooming units and disappears down the hallway into another part of the Den.

"So what do you think?" Kioshi asks me as I open my door and look into the room we will be sharing.

"It appears safe, but we will need some source of light," I reply as I enter. The whole room is dark, and we can only make out vague impressions of what the room looks like because of the light from the hallway. Because the light from the hallway is not being reflected, it is apparent that Black Demon Diamonds do not cover the walls. However, in the dim, I can make out the shape of two beds, one against either wall of the room, and a door on the far side, leaving to a bathroom undoubtedly.

Luckily, Kioshi's eyes are better than mine are and pick out what was supposed to be the source of light. "There are holes in the wall above the beds, probably supposed to hold torches, but they're empty."

I nod as I reach for my hair and pull out two seeds, which I place in the holes. "I suppose these will have to do for now." Silently, the small seeds grow into my Lamp Weeds and light the room with a yellow glow caused by a chemical reaction in the bloom of the plant that looks like a bulb of a light bulb. Now that the room is slightly lit, I can make out the shape of the room more clearly. The walls are dirt as I suspected and when I open the door on the far side of the room, a bright light nearly blinds Kioshi and me. Once our eyes adjust to the brightness, we see that the room behind the door is completely white with an electrical light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Again, I am correct in my assumptions for the room is a bathroom. Rubbing my eyes to remove the spots from my vision, I close the door both to the washroom and the hallway. While I am going that, Kioshi claims the bed on the right side of the room.

"How do you turn off your plants?" he asks as I sit down on my own bed and place my bag underneath.

"Change the flow of my demon energy," I reply as I lie down and slowly start to change the flow of my demon energy causing the plants to dim the light they give off. "We'll have to see about getting some torches tomorrow."

"Makes you wish for a fire demon roommate, huh?"

"Perhaps."

I hear Kioshi turn over in his bed to face me. "You're oddly calm for someone who just let their slave in the middle of a warzone considering how much you appeared to care for her."

I frown and lay on my back, staring at the ceiling. "She's not my slave."

"Sure she's not." Kioshi yawns and lays down flat on his bed. "Well night, Kitsu."

"My name is Katsu."

"Your real name must be embarrassing if you won't tell anyone it," he comments.

"Perhaps I'm not insane and want to live many more years," I reply coldly.

He is silent for a moment before he says, "Why did your watch just change colour?"

For a moment, I am confused until I remember that I am wearing the Megiru Compass. Looking down, I realize that the face of the compass has turned yellow.

* * *

Save a Kitten, Earn a Lifestyle

After my fight with Kurama, I fell into a tear-induced sleep and didn't awake until hours later when I heard screaming in the streets. Going over to my closet, I hoped that all my possessions were still were they left them. As I threw the door open, I almost gasped at the feeling of nostalgia that came over me as I slowly held the plush dog that a stranger had given me as a small kitten of about only two months.

Before I turned thirteen, I would curl up in my closet and wait until the fight had stopped outside, but I couldn't do that any longer. For one thing I couldn't fit in the closet anymore, and two, there was no guarantee that the attackers wouldn't come inside. So I put the small toy away and instead grabbed the broom that I had kept inside. Though it was not a wonderful weapon, it was something. Kuwabara had taught me a bit of swordsmanship while I practiced with a wooden sword, so I figured that a wooden broom could work too. As long as it didn't get cut in half.

I shook my head to keep the troubling thought from my head and walked over to the door, ready to attack in case someone did decide to raid my house. Though it was falling apart, and the neighbourhood was horrible; it was the only place that I could hide from my life until I could come up with a plan. It had sheltered me many times before that night, and I wasn't about to turn my back on my shoulder to cry on.

Keeping my breathing quiet and clutching the broom, I waited behind the door for something to happen. Fate did not disappoint.

Moments after I had got into position, a small humanoid cat ran into my house and crashed into my legs as she tried to close the door. She rubbed the area of her head between her white ears causing her long hair to be slightly messed up. I watched as she suddenly remembered what she had crashed into and waited for a scream as she stared up at me with fearful blue eyes. Getting to my knees, I petted her head.

"It's okay," I muttered. "I'm on your side." I think, I mentally added.

Tears started to come from her eyes as she said, "Dogs are attacking. Mum and dad-"

She was cut off but the door being pushed open slightly. Both she and I put all our weight on the door and slammed it shut before retreating a few feet, the kitten behind me, and my broom held in my hands like a sword.

I don't think either of us breathed as the door was kicked in, but I know I inhaled, to give my muscles the energy to fight, when I saw the kitten's torturers.

In the doorway stood two female dog demons with long white hair and white furs. Though they were no longer drunk, their eyes were still red as they looked towards the kitten and me.

"There's the little bait, sister," the one that had first noticed Kurama said. "And look, she's hiding behind a mutt."

"How very fortunate for us. We'll get double the fun now," replied the other as they stepped towards us.

I took a step back and moved my hand on the broom so that the head of it was facing them. "Leave right now and I won't have to hurt you," I said hoping that they wouldn't call my bluff. Yusuke always said that the key to a successful bluff was to be confident but that is kinda hard to be when it's two against one. I'm not even close to being a Level B. C maybe but never a Level B, and from the looks of the dogs they were almost Bs.

"You're going to use a broom against us?" said one of the dogs as the other laughed.

I tried to give them a sly grin but I knew that my hands were shaking as I took another step back and into my bedroom. "A very special broom," I replied.

"What can it do?"

"Fly?"

I shook my head. "No, I can do that all myself. This broom can fight."

The two almost doubled over in laughter.

"Using a broom against us! How pathetic!"

I was just about to run forward and run out the door with the kitten while they were distracted when a wind suddenly blew through the window, and the dogs sniffed curiously.

"You have the scent of a fox on you," one declared. "I wonder how desperate the guy was."

I ignored her and looked towards my open window. I hated the idea of leaving my house vulnerable like this but it was the only way. The dogs were no longer distracted so I couldn't run by them and there was no way I would win in a fight. Gritting my teeth, I readied myself but paused when I felt pain in my wrist. Something started running over my wrist and onto the floor, but I ignored it. No longer waiting, I turned the broom so that it was horizontal to me and threw it at the dogs. They paused for a moment to catch the broom and in that moment, I grabbed the kitten and ran to the stairs that led to the roof.

The dogs howled behind us, and I knew we only had a few seconds, so I jumped off the roof and flapped my wings. I had never tried flying holding onto someone but the kitten didn't move much so I didn't have to worry about losing balance in the air and crashing. From below on the roofs, the dogs barked and cursed at us. The kitten didn't hear though because I had one hand over her ears and petting her head while the other was wrapped safely around her waist.

Suddenly two more figures appeared on the roof and attacked the dogs. I held the kitten close to me and covered her eyes. She probably had already seen demons killed, but if she hadn't, I didn't want to be the one who allowed her to watch. Once the dogs had been thrown off the roof, one of the figures waved up to me. "Tama-chan! Neini-chan!" shouted a familiar female voice.

Once I recognized it as Neyuki's, I landed on the roof and put the kitten down. She instantly ran in Neyuki's arms who hugged her and then pulled back and said, "Neini-chan! I told you to stay with mom and dad! Why didn't you listen!?"

"Dogs got into the safe house so mum and dad told me to find you," the kitten, Neini, replied, her voice getting faster and more animated as she talked. "But some dogs followed me so I ran into a house and she was there," she pointed at me, "but the dogs followed us in and then she threw a broom at them and jumped off the roof and we were flying! Did you see me flying, One-chan?!"

Neyuki sighed. "Yes I saw you but you are not allowed to leave my side now, got it?"

Neini grinned "Got it!"

"Cute kid, but really silly at times," Neichi said as he stood beside me.

I nodded as I watched the two sisters talk. "Yeah, do you have any siblings, Neichi-kun?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Just me, myself, and I unless you would like to join us." He gave me a flirtatious grin, and again I amazed myself by not blushing.

If Kurama had done the same, I probably would have been a thousand colours of red, but Neichi just didn't have that same effect on me. Maybe because it isn't Hraru? I asked myself.

He stopped grinning for a moment before he put his face inches from me and breathed. A frown worked its way onto his face as he said, "Did you run into a fox on your way here?"

I nodded. "He didn't do anything though." Other than be a jerk, I mentally added.

Neichi frowned and looked down at my wrist. "Is that where you got that bite from?"

I frowned as well and lifted my wrist to my view. The slave bite Kurama had given me was starting to bleed, and I couldn't sense or feel his energy in or covering it. I couldn't tell Neichi that Kurama had given me the bite because he thought he was Neyou, but I wasn't very good at lying either. I settled for half the truth. "Sorta. I got bit from a fox, but that was as a slave."

"How long ago?"

"A few months, but I ran away."

Neichi smiled. "I'm glad." He raised my wrist to his mouth and started to lick the bite as Kurama had when he first gave it to me. But this time, instead of smoothing the pain, his licks only caused more as his sandpaper tongue rubbed painfully against the bite. "He must have given up ownership of you in order for that bite to reopen like that."

"Speaking of men," Neyuki said as she walked over with her hand on Neini's wrist, "Where is Neyou-san?"

I pulled my hand away from Neichi and turned to face Neyuki. "We had a fight, and he is now running around the city on his own. Probably gone to pick a fight with some dogs," I said.

Neyuki closed her eyes shook her head. "Men. What are you doing to go about them?"

I shrugged, and Neichi wrapped his arm around me. "You could always leave Neyou and be my mate."

"He's not my mate," I said coldly, hoping that they would stop talking about him.

Neyuki frowned with wide eyes. "Why are you travelling with someone who isn't your mate? Is he your half-brother or something?"

"No, he was just a friend but lately he has been acting weird. It's like I don't even know him anymore." Or never did in the first place. "And I don't have a mate."

Neyuki nodded in understanding and her frown disappeared. "Oh I get it now. That bite is just a scar from a fight. Sorry about that, it just seemed like yours and Neyou-san's energy were merged when you were standing side by side."

"Energy merged?" I asked. I have a vague idea of what mating entailed but I had never heard of energy merging.

Neyuki frowned again. "Yeah, when you mate your energy merges through the bite."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"How old are you?" Neyuki asked.

"Twenty-six."

Neyuki nodded. "That would explain why you don't know. That and the fact that you probably weren't raised with either side of your family."

I twitched, remembering Kurama's angry words about how my mother never cared. How no one would.

Grabbing Neini from under her arms, Neyuki handed the kitten to Neichi. "Play with her. Tama-chan and I need to have a talk."

Pouting slightly, Neichi took the girl over to the other side of the room leaving Neyuki and I to talk.

"So about mating?" I asked as I turned to face her.

She nodded. "You know about how different things demons do have different meanings?"

"Like a kiss on the check means ownership but a kiss on the lips means 'I think you could be my mate'?"

She nodded again. "Do you know what the difference between a slave bite, a mating bite, and a normal bite are?"

"Energy?"

"A normal bite doesn't have any energy injected into it. Whereas, a slave bite has energy injected into it but as a covering to broadcast the fact that the demon is owned. Both of these bites can be placed anywhere on the body. However, a mating mark can only be placed on the neck where it can be seen easily so that other demons can see that the demon wearing the mark is taken."

I frowned. "Why does it need to be easily seen?"

"Because while the demon is being bitten, the energy that is injected into the system merges with the bitten's energy. Unless the two demons are standing side by side, most demons can't tell unless they try to harm that demon. Then the merged energy will separate and attack the attackers or create a barrier until the other mate can show up and help, but that only works when the mate is alive. If the mate dies the energy remains merged but doesn't separate anymore. Did that make any sense?"

I nodded.

"So that's how the marks work, and every demon race uses them. Only for some races the marks will disappear after the mating season ends. Cats and bats mate for life too like most demons. You can also mate without being marked, but without the mark, the mating isn't bonding," Neyuki finished.

"What about foxes?" I quickly covered my mouth as the sentence slipped out. Of all times for my curse to act up, it had to do that when being friendly with a canine could get you in serious trouble. If they thought that I knew about the dog army, they would have torture me, and I might have accidently mentioned that Kurama was in Demon World. Then all the demons who hated him would have attacked him and he would have been killed.

Neyuki didn't seem worried about my question though or interested in why I was asking. "I think they are seasonal maters," she replied. "But I heard that after a certain age they switch to being life-long maters. I think the cat I heard it from said they had to be at least have their second tail for that to happen."

From behind I felt Neichi wrap an arm around my waist and pull me close. "But if you are unhappy with your mate, you can always act like some humans and leave your mate for a new one," Neichi said suggestively.

Neyuki glared at him over my shoulder. "Weren't you supposed to be watching Neini-chan?"

"She's amused," Neichi said before turning his attention back to me. As his hands moved to play with my hair, I resisted the urge to kick him. It felt too much like when the demons cornered me in the alley way and forced me into Human World. Instead of kicking him, I pulled away.

"I'm guessing Neyou-kun won't be back for a while," Neyuki said as she glared at Neichi behind me.

I nodded.

Suddenly, two little arms were wrapped around my knees and holding the bottom parts of my wings to my legs. "Come with us!" Neini said when I looked down and saw her. "Come with us! We travel all over!"

Neyuki came up from behind and pulled the kitten off of me and said, "Tama-chan has to find Neyou-san right now."

"Then she can find him and he can come with us!" the kitten said with a happy grin on her face. "We can all travel together!"

"Actually, I'm not looking for Neyou-kun right now," I said awkwardly. "I think he just needs some time. He'll find me when he needs me." Which is never since I'm useless to the mission and that's all he cares about, I silently said to myself.

"Then travel with us!" Neini demanded. "We recruit people! You can help!"

Neyuki nodded. "We're the recruitment party for the cats. Right now we are trying to find some of our cousins to help in the war. We can't let the dogs outnumber us."

I nodded as terror entered my system. Even though I had nowhere else to go, I didn't want to join the war. I didn't want to take part in the killing, especially when I refused to join the dogs with Kurama for that reason. "I'm not a fighter though."

Neyuki shook her head. "None of us really are. The only reason we are fighting is because some idiots picked a fight with a dog so the dog's family got involved and then the cats' family got involved and so on. Unfortunately though, more and more demons are getting roped into this. The only reason we are in this war is to try to cripple it."

"How?"

Neichi grinned. "You go to the heart of the matter."

"You're going to find out what caused the fight and fix it?"

Neichi and Neyuki leaned sharply to the side with a forced grin on their faces. "Most demons aren't content with a happy ending," Neyuki said.

"We're going for the generals," Neichi said bluntly.

I felt my face start to drain of colour. "Oh." I wasn't sure what to do. If I went with the cats then I would be ruining my point that I gave Kurama, but if I didn't, then I wouldn't have any way to find Rose.

While I was laying on my bed thinking about how painful Kurama's words were the night of the fight, I remembered why I was even in Demon World. Rose was being hunted because I was too stupid to be able to avoid killing two humans. If I wasn't so stupid, then Koenma probably would have just left Rose alone because the mirror was broken and useless. Through my tears, I decided to find Rose and explain the situation. I believed that with her help, I could at least save her from my mistakes even if I couldn't save myself. More than anything, I just wanted to make up for my mistakes and start over so that maybe I could prove Kurama and my mother wrong about how no one could honestly care for me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that in my current life though, and I was too weak to commit suicide, so my only option was to serve my sentence in jail until I died. Then maybe my life would be better and worth living, maybe even worth saving.

"Are you okay, Tama-chan?" Neyuki asked as she put her hand on my shoulder.

Kurama was right that I didn't have anywhere to go other than jail or Demon World, and since he had the communication mirror I couldn't contact Botan to take me back to the prison. So the only way to end the mission was to find Rose. However, the only way to find Rose was to join the war but joining the war met forgoing my point about not going with Kurama.

Two arms squeezed my legs again causing me to look down into Neini's face. "Tama-chan?" she asked quietly.

Neini's eyes made my decision for me. "I would be honoured to join you," I found myself saying.

Neyuki grinned and shook my hand. "Welcome to the resistance and the family."

When the cats smiled at me, I found myself thinking, 'This life won't matter for much longer so what does a lost argument mean anyways?' So I followed them off the roof and into my new life-style until I would be returned to the jail where I would die and finally be able to start again with a better beginning.

* * *

**A/N: 1. I have no idea how the plants work, I am merely making this up so if I'm wrong don't blame me. Blame Togashi-sama for not explaining Kurama's plants fully.**

**2. Who do you want to win the war? Dogs or cats? (Feel free to be as biased as you wish.)**

**3. Not much else to say other than this took me much longer than I would have liked to get done but it's long so I think that makes it work. Anyways, I love Neini even if every time I go to type her name I type Neichi. I use his name too much. Yusuke was fun to write too though. His little spazzing moment back there.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and the reviews! I hope you are enjoying the story even if it seems to have reached a low place from which it is taking forever to raise out of. It will soon, believe me. See ya next chapter and please tell me what is your favourite part of the story so far.**

**-D101**


	11. Life at the Base

_Disclaimer: I own only my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Tsukino has joined the cat demon resistance while Kurama has enlisted in the dog demon army. What possible damage could come from this?

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Eleven  
****Life at the Base**

Learning the Lifestyle

After I agreed to join the cats, Neini all but dragged me to the recruitment center for the cats in a town a day away from Keisatsusho. At first the cats were reluctant to allow me to join, thinking that I was a dog army spy, until they asked for my reason why I wanted to join the war. I replied honestly, saying that I wanted to avoid a fox and that I was looking for a friend. Since the cats were low on people, they allowed me to join but not before Neyuki and Neichi talked with them and Neini begged for me be able to join.

After I was recruited, we started to make our way towards the cat base located in Nekonihon. It took us many days to travel there and each night we went to bed exhausted, but when we arrived I found myself lacking breath for another reason. The cat demon base was located in the top of a million year old tree, far taller and larger than anything in Human World was.

As we climbed upward, I felt my neck getting sore from me turning it every way trying to see everything.

The rooms were built into the branches by hollowing out some of the branches and making them bigger by using the wood to make walls and roofs in some points. The path-ways were the branches that connected to the main trunk of the tree. Everything was kept its nature colour to conceal the base from enemy eyes. Purples leaves decorated the roofs and the brown branches and brushed against my face as I followed the other cats upward. Even without a powerful nose, I was still able to smell the pleasant scents of the nature around me.

Unfortunately, the thought of nature quickly reminded me of Kurama who used plants as his choice of weapons. I still had no idea what I had done to cause him to act that way, but I was surprisingly thankful that I had at least learned the true him before I fell any harder for him. He had said so himself that he didn't care for me and, in so many words and like Neichi supposedly did, only wanted me for sex.

The happiness the tree originally brought me was quickly tainted by the memory of him, but I tried my best to hide it from the other cats. Luckily, it wasn't hard though since we were all tired, and the others were happy to be at the base.

Because it was many hours after nightfall when we arrived, we quickly moved to the main stem of the tree where the main office was so that I could be informed of what I would be doing to help the army and where my room was. I was told to obey all generals and to take different classes from different cats until the cats figured out how I could aid the army. After they gave me a quick run down of the rules (no mating with other demons, no causing food fights on the Food Branch, no stealing, no fighting, no leaving unless ordered by a general, and no causing chaos), I was told that my room was on the Special Branch.

Neini wasted no time in informing me that she and Neyuki shared a room on that branch and quickly pulled me in the direction of my room. Since we were all tried and ready for a restful sleep, we said our goodnights and went to our rooms. Neyuki and Neini showed me the door of my room and then went to their own.

Taking one last breath of the beautiful fresh air, I opened the door and saw that I had the room all to myself. In the middle of the room was a small bed with a closet on the right wooden wall and another door on the left, which I assumed was the bathroom. Light came through the window, which was above the bed's headboard, and from a strange plant I had never seen before, which looked like a light bulb and glowed yellow. Removing my bag, I opened the closet to see that it was completely bare. Silently, I placed my bag in the closet and closed the door before allowing myself to fall onto my bed.

Even though I was still greatly confused and hurt from our fight, it felt odd without him around. We had been sharing a room ever since we arrived in Demon World and an apartment for most of the time I was in Human World. If I was perfectly honest, I even missed the calming effect of his voice and energy signature. I felt like I had just lost a close friend, a true friend. In the end, I reasoned that it was just because we had been stuck with each other for so long and tried to block him from my mind as I fell asleep.

He didn't stay away from my mind very long because I quickly fell into a dream that made me wish for his fake comfort. In it, I was walking down a street in Human World laughing with Botan and Keiko when a zombie climbed out from under a manhole. Botan and Keiko quickly disappeared from my side, and I ran into an alley where garbage bags were piled as high as the buildings they leaned against. A man appeared at the end of the alley and grinned at me showing pointed teeth.

"Hello Nine," he muttered.

Biting back a scream, I turned around and ran the other way only to trip over a bag when the walls of garbage started to fall. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded in water. I started to kick and claw my way upwards, but suddenly chains shot out of the ground far below me and dragged me downwards just as they had when I was a child. Desperately, I tried to flap my wings to propel me upwards but it was too exhausting to move them through the water. The chains became tighter and wrapped themselves all around my body. Air bubbles left my mouth, and I felt myself fall out of the water and into the arms of someone.

The pointed teeth hovered over me in a black silhouette as the voice said, "How luscious a girl you have become." The teeth hovered a moment longer before they dived for my throat.

I awoke a second later panting and clutching my throat. My eyes shot around the room looking for a hint of the demon. There was none.

For a moment, I was also looking for Kurama until I remembered that he was gone and hated me. Bitter tears started to come to my eyes as the pain and the fear took root and my chest started to ache as if my heart was beating too fast.

"Tama-chan."

My heart seemed to skip a beat as my eyes darted towards the door where I saw Neini standing.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

With a great amount of effort, I smiled. "Yes. I didn't wake you did I?"

The little kitten shook her head. "No, One-chan told me to get you're your lesson will start soon."

I nodded. "I'll be out in a few moments."

She nodded and disappeared out of my doorway still looking upset. I hoped that I hadn't scared her since I wasn't feeling the best at that moment. Though the dream was gone, the fear remained, but I wasn't going to let it stay. Setting my shoulders and standing tall, I walked out that door and towards my first day of lessons where I was sure I would find my place. But then, I had forgotten that a mixed-breed doesn't really have a place in any world.

* * *

Day Eighty-Nine

More than a month has passed since I joined the dog army, and I still can't help but look at my watch almost hourly just to be sure that she is okay. It had long ago changed back to blue after the scare she gave me when the compass turned yellow, but the arrow is getting closer and closer to the third stage. I keep telling myself that it doesn't matter, that I'm getting over her and don't care anymore, but I'm only lying. Everyday I become more and more worried as the arrow slowly moves towards the three. I haven't been allowed to leave the base since I entered either, so I haven't been able to look for The Fox's Rose, and time is running out for Tsukino.

Yusuke and the others have also become increasingly worried and call me daily to demand that I go look for her. Each day I refuse and say that it will jeopardize the mission, but each day I'm coming closer to leaving anyways. If I don't get a mission to scout out the cats' hideout, Kioshi and I are going to leave on our own.

In fact, as I update my journal, Kioshi has left to talk to the generals and demand for a scouting mission. I am unable to join him because I am expecting another call from Spirit World and cannot risk the communicator ringing in the middle of the conversation.

That must be Kazuma now.

I pull out the mirror and open it to see Kazuma in the mirror. He is probably the only person other than Koenma who has not verbally attacked me over the issue of Tsukino. Instead, he has remained understanding and keeps me updated on his and Yusuke's discoveries in the library.

"Hello Kazuma," I say when I see it is him, "Any information on Tsukino-san's problem?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing about the cure, but Spirit World files had some stats about mixed demons. Apparently virtually no mixed demon has ever lived pass the third stage because they were killed by other demons as they entered it. So we tried to find Tsukino's folder to see if we could learn anything else but we can't find it in the remains. So far, I haven't even seen a mention of Tsukino. Do you think she gave us a fake name?"

I nod. "It is possible. Did you find any demons matching her physically appearance?"

He nods. "Yeah but her name was Mikiku." His face suddenly becomes thoughtful. "Actually, this Mikiku is supposed to be the longest living mixed-demon. From what I found, she was protected by two purebloods and only ever hit the second stage. It doesn't say if she is dead now or where she is though, like it had for the other mixed demons."

"Was there anything else?"

"Not really except that because of the odd genes, mixed-demons tend to act more human because of their brain being deformed by demon standards and more human like with all the emotional chemicals and stuff."

I nod.

"We also found that mixed-demon's hearts beat unlike normal demons."

"But when she was attacked by a demon outside my apartment and Yusuke felt for a pulse he didn't find one."

"That's because their hearts actually beat so fast that you can't tell if they are beating or not unless they're hearts slow down before death or start to beat so fast that it seems to be a heart murmur. The scientists think that is another reason why the stages happen."

"Why is that?"

"According to them, when mixed-demons feel stressed or excited, their hearts beat faster. If they are stressed it beats even faster then when excited and puts more pressure on the body and the brain-"

"Which causes the brain to fail to work in certain regions causing the genes to destabilize."

He nods. "That and in the third stage not only does energy try to escape so does blood because the heart is putting too much pressure on the blood and it is trying to escape."

I nod. "Anything else?"

He shakes his head. "No, but I'll keep you posted."

"Please do."

He nods again. "Don't worry, we'll save her somehow."

I nod once more before closing the mirror. Perhaps separating by causing a fight was not the best idea. During the fight, I thought I hear her heart beating due to my demon hearing but assumed it was only my imagination. If her heart was beating, then all I have done is speed up the process more. I should have just left her in the inn while I had the chance but then she could have been attacked while leaving the inn or tried to track me down. There wasn't any other way to leave and she couldn't come with me. The other demons here are just as bad as Oshiro's gang when it comes to mixed-demons. There wasn't another way… was there?

"Yo Kitsu-san!" Kuronue shouts as he virtually breaks down the unlocked door to our room.

Slouching forward a bit, I turn away from the desk I had requested to face the bat demon. For the twelfth time this week, I say, "My name is Katsu."

As he normally does, he ignores me and walks over. Casually, I place my hand over the title of my closed casebook so that he thinks it is just a book I brought from home. I had told him it was about war techniques so that he would not read it. "You still reading?" he asks as he sits down backwards on the extra chair by my desk which is located on my wall.

I nod. "You never know when we might need to come up with a plan ourselves instead of leaving it up to the generals."

"You're reading that books so much that I almost think you are one of the generals."

I calmly place my book into a drawer on my desk and lock it. "Any news about when we will be permitted to leave the base?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing but why did you lock the drawer?"

"This book is very dear to me, and I would not be pleased to find it stolen."

"Why? Did your **slave** give it to you?"

I ignore his implications and reach into my bag for the file I was given by a messenger from the planning room in the eastern corner of the maze where the generals usually worked. After reading them over, I shake my head. "I fail to understand why they waste their time looking for high level demons to join and don't just attack with the men they have now."

Kioshi shrugs. "Dunno. Maybe they think it will be easier?"

"With this many soldiers it would not take very long to wipe out the cats." I shake my head in annoyance. "I just wish this war would either be over or allow us more movement."

"I hear ya but according to the generals, that's not going to happen until we get some stronger demons on our side."

I nod. "Unless we make them think we are worthless but it's probably too late for that."

Kioshi nods. "Why did you bother pointing out the generals' mistake? It may have gotten us out of here faster."

About a week after I had joined the army, the generals were planning sending out search parties of fifty demons to find the cats' base. Knowing that the cats would easily spot and then slaughter the demons before they even got close, I pointed out that smaller groups would be harder to detect. The generals had followed my advice and found the cats' base. However, only the generals know the location so we are forced to wait for the signal to move in, but before that they are having me look over their plans. "Because we could not afford to lose anymore men at that time. Even if the cats are stronger than us they would tire from fighting all the demons."

"Still though, it's not our fight is it?"

"No, I agree but with more demons around it will be harder to see two demons disappear away from the battle."

"Or because your batty-cat doesn't like violence, you want to avoid as much bloodshed as possible."

I turn my back on him and reach into my bag to grab the file of what The Fox's Rose had stolen. There has to be reason why she stole only these few objects.

Kioshi does not understand that I wish to be alone and says, "Speaking of batty-cats, how is she?"

"I have no idea. I haven't see or heard from or about her since I joined the army." I have long ago given up trying to tell Kioshi to shut up about her. No matter what I say he still insists on implying that there is something between Tsukino and me. For that reason, I reply as diplomatically as possible and continue on to the next subject.

"What about the other batty-cat?"

"If I had any news, I would have told you," I reply as I try to ignore the need to remove some stress from my system. The last thing I need right now is acting completely out of character.

"I'm thirsty," Kioshi randomly announces.

"There is water in the bathroom. Drink from the sink."

"But I don't want water," he whines.

Without turning to face him, I place my face in my palm. The stress must be getting to him as well if he has started to remove his stress by increasing mine.

"I have an idea! Let's go to the bar!"

I have the grace not to roll my eyes. "We just went to the bar."

"But that was this morning!"

"And this is still the same day. I'm not about to deal with you if you get another hangover."

"We might find out something about The Fox's Rose."

"Kioshi-san, the only people who go to the bar are people who have been underground too long and have no idea what is happening above ground."

"What about the bartender?"

I grab the file of the generals' plans and read them over looking for mistakes. "No, I have work to do." I feel like a work-at-home father arguing with his child about going to a baseball game.

Suddenly, Kioshi moves from his chair and pulls one of my arms behind my back while the other holds his weapon to my throat. He then removes me from my chair and forces me to walk through the door.

"Kioshi-san, let me go," I growl at him, my patience virtually used up.

Kioshi doesn't appear threatened and starts dragging me in the direction of the western corner of the maze. "We are getting a drink," he tells me.

Wondering how I could remove myself from his grip without killing him or myself, I repeat my order. "Let me go."

I assume he is smirking judging by the tone of his voice. He sounds amused and smug. "Are you going to run back to the room like a little kit?"

Ignoring the other demons who are hoping for a fight to break out, I carefully shake my head.

Kioshi releases my arm from his grip and removes his weapon. "Now we can go get a drink," he announces.

I shake my head and start to walk in the direction of the planning room. "Later."

His hand quickly grabs onto my left ear and gives it a sharp tug. "You said you wouldn't go back to the room."

"I'm not. I'm going to the planning room, and I never said I would get a drink."

Kioshi sighs and then happily says, "You are now!" as he drags me in the direction of the bar.

A few seconds later, he releases my ear when I yell into his, but we continue to walk towards the bar because it is probably the most amusing way to waste time in the base.

We arrive at the bar five minutes later, and while I look around the bar with wooden walls and electrical lighting, Kioshi is still complaining about how I yelled into his ear while rubbing it. "If I become deaf, I blame you."

"If only you would become mute," I mutter as I finally spot a table by the backdoor. I point the table out to him, but it is obvious that Kioshi heard my comment because he is muttering words under his breath and rolling his eyes at me. We walk over and are quickly served, but it is not until we are settled and drinking that Kioshi continues talking to me.

"What are your chances of being able to sneak out and scout out the town without the scout party seeing you?" I say quietly after looking around the bar to be sure that no one will be able to tell the generals about our deserting plan.

"Slim to none. Those brats have annoyingly good eyes," Kioshi replies. "Why?"

"I was wondering if we could do some scouting on our own."

Kioshi shakes his head. "Even if we got out, getting back in is impossible. Not only does the dirt on the outside rip whatever is digging in it to shreds but we would have to break through the Black Demon Diamond."

"Not impossible, just difficult," I correct him with a small smirk. "We could dig into that one part where the tunnel was narrow."

"Didn't you listen to that wolf? He said that if anyone tried to widen it, the tunnel would collapse."

"That's if we try to widen it. We would be digging down into it."

Kioshi shakes his head. "If you want to try, be my guest. I'm not going to commit suicide over getting some air."

"Not even to catch The Fox's Rose?" I ask as I take a sip of my drink.

He nods. "Not even to catch The Fox's Rose."

We are silent for a moment as both of us drink before Kioshi asks, "So you haven't heard anything about your batty-cat, Kitsune-san?"

"My name is Katsu," I say before taking another sip of my drink.

"Your batty-cat lover can't remember your name either?"

I try not to spit out my drink. I have never liked this subject of mating and lovers and such. That sort of thing should remain in the bedroom where it took place. And the fact that he thought that Tsukino and I… It's not that I wouldn't mind but…

"I don't have a lover," I reply to Kioshi.

He seems a bit surprised but also slightly happy. "Taking after your old man, huh?"

I shake my head, still confused as to how this bat could have known my father when he wasn't from Demon World. "I never knew him," I say as I take a drink, hinting that this was the end of the subject.

Kioshi does not take my hint. "How come?"

"He died," I reply quickly.

Kioshi seems to deflate as he slouches forward. "Oh, sorry about that. He was a good man… sorta… for a fox."

Though my face remains blank, I wonder, 'What is the difference between a good fox and a bad one?'

"He was a royal pain at times but a good man and a good planner. Better as a thief though than anything. Pathetic with the girls," Kioshi adds as an after thought.

I shake my head. "I'm sorry. But we must be talking about two different foxes. My father was **not** a planner or a thief."

Kioshi stares at me. "But aren't you-?"

A small pup arrives at our table, panting. "Katsu-san! Kioshi-san! You have a scouting mission! The generals want you to meet them in the planning room."

The pup has barely finished his sentence before Kioshi and I are on our feet. We quickly pay for our drinks before calmly walking out of the bar. Once we are out of sight of the bar, we quickly run to the planning room.

When we arrive we find four dog demons waiting for us outside the Black Demon Diamond door that leads to the planning room. It appears that the generals have been waiting for us.

* * *

At my first lesson, I was told how the cat army would decide how I would be most useful. Unlike the dogs, who apparently just asked what your speciality was, the cats would give the recruit lessons in all fields. The lessons would continue until the recruit reached a spot they could not overcome. My first lesson was cooking, and it was over before it even started. After being in Human World so long I couldn't look at the sliced up Production-Model Hominids. Even though they were plant-like and obviously not human, I couldn't stand the idea of cooking with them.

Every lesson after that also went downhill. Scouting also was over before it even started because I couldn't fly silently and I was unable to get into small spaces due to my wings. Weapon making and making/mending clothes was another automatic fail. I just was unable to sit still long enough, and my hands weren't delicate, strong, or lithe enough to do the job that needed doing. I also couldn't use the weapons that were made because every time I was about to deliver a killing stroke or one that would even harm the hominid used for practice I would get sick. The reason for that was my blood fighting again. My cat demon blood wanted to be accepted very badly by the cats while my bat demon blood refused and didn't want to kill. It was my two wants and desires conflicting that caused me to be sick.

The one lesson where I actually lasted a while for was hand-to-hand combat. I didn't have to kill, and Yusuke and Kuwabara had already taught me the basic. However, they taught me street-fighting, and my cat teacher was a martial-artist. Luckily though, I was able to mix the two seamlessly until the day when she tried to teach me how to punch my opponent.

"No. No," my tiger demon teacher said as her striped tail swished side to side while her yellow eyes glared at me. "You are putting too much weight on your front foot. In martial arts you have to keep your weight centered."

I sighed and argued back, "But this way the punch has more power."

"And leaves you open to a counter-attack. Try again, and keep your weight centered."

I bit my tongue and tried to do what she told me. Taking a deep breath, I moved my feet so that I was crouching. I curled my hands into fists and stepped forward, moving my arm forward as well to create the punch. Sadly, once again, I subconsciously moved my weight onto my front foot to power my punch.

"NO!" the tiger shouted at me. "That's all wrong. Who taught you? A street-fighter?"

I nodded. "Two of them in fact and they could take you any day." I instantly covered my mouth after my outburst and tried to calm myself. The stress had been building for days. After every failed lesson, I felt worse and worse, like I would never find my place. Neini, Neyuki, and Neichi assured me that I would find something I could do, but I was doubting them which only caused me more stress.

The tiger didn't seem to notice my regret. Instead, she sneered. "Fine, if you think you are so hot, let's fight. Street-fighting against martial arts." She moved into the position I was previously in.

I shook my head, trying to fight down my bat demon instincts that were urging me to fight to defend my original teachers. "I am sorry, Iuki-sensei. I allowed my anger at my own limitations to speak." I wasn't a fighter; I knew that much so it was wiser to try to avoid the fight even if Kurama thought otherwise.

Iuki accepted this answer and nodded. "Yes, I suppose it would be difficult to switch from one version of fighting to another." She walked over to the door and then turned back to me. "Tomorrow you will meet your last possible teacher. Perhaps healing would better match you since you are unable to forget your bat-like street-fighting."

I nodded and forced back my bat demon instincts that called for me to defend my kin from that stereotype. In that place, you are either a cat or an enemy, I told myself as I left through the same door after her. Neichi was waiting outside the door for me, but I shook my head. The last thing I wanted right now was more stress caused by his flirting. Admittedly, Neichi had reduced the flirting to playful teasing since I had joined the army, but I wasn't in the mood to talk. Surprisingly, he understood and just walked beside me with a comforting hand on my arm.

When we arrived at my room, he muttered something about being here for me when I wanted to talk, but I just nodded and closed the door. I was stressed, tired, and hungry. However, I refused to give into my hunger because I knew that I would only throw it up later. Almost two weeks after Kurama and I went different ways, I started to throw up after meals, almost as if my body couldn't change the food into energy. Because of this, I was more tired than usual, and the fact that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to earn my keep wasn't helping. But then, neither were the dreams, which were steadily getting worse.

Every night I would have a nightmare, which I would awake from covered in sweat. Sometimes I even felt dizzy from fear after them. However, no dream before or after it had the same effect on me as the one that happened a month after I left Kurama behind.

The dream started nicely enough. I was small, only two months but the same size as a human six year old, and looking for some food. I came across an orchard with apples and picked one. After eating the apple, I planted the core so that a new tree could grow. Then I started to walk towards the nearest town. The town was filled with beautiful colours. Demons of all sorts walked the streets, but all of them were purebloods. They whispered to each other as I passed. Soon, I became slightly uncomfortable and walked into an alley to avoid the crowds.

The town became dark. The beautiful colours merged into threatening colours of blood red, black, brunt orange, and ash brown. The demons became more and more outspoken about me. I was no longer walking down an alley but a main street. My two month old mind was confused by the change and became frightened.

Then they appeared.

A group of purebloods surrounded me and reached towards me. Saying horrible things I did not understand. One cut my cheek with his sword.

I ran away from them, and the colours faded to ash brown and shades of gray and black except for my blood. My blood remained a bright and sickening red.

The purebloods chased after me, shouting words at me that I didn't understand.

I kept running, hoping that someone to stop them.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. His claws dug into my skin as he turned me to face him. They surrounded me again and pulled out their weapons.

I broke away from their grip and ran until my lungs were on fire. Then I crashed into her.

My mother's hateful green eyes stared down at me once again as her black tail whipped around behind her. Her words shouted even louder this time than the last. They stabbed even deeper into my soul and subconscious with every word she said. "Filth! You are no kitten of mine and no one will ever care for you." In a sickeningly graceful movement, she grabbed me and threw me backwards to the group of purebloods.

Hands moved greedily over my arms and legs as they argued over what they wanted to eat. I screamed, begged, hoped all for nothing. The pain grew as I became covered in cuts.

Through the pain, I heard one demon suggest they kill me and then divide me among them.

The others agreed, and I felt teeth start to sink into the flesh of my arm while teeth hovered under and over my throat to end my life. I cried and tried to defend myself, but the other demons held my other arms and legs down.

Suddenly, I was covered in blood. The grips holding me slackened as the demons fell away from me in a circle. The demon who was about to rip my throat out also fell to the ground, dead. My throat, no longer between his teeth.

Even though I was now free, I was still unable to move. I watched terrified as a figure walked towards me. He kneeled down besides the corpses and went through their pockets, removing the coins he found inside. Once he had done that, he walked over to me.

I realized that he was a bat demon, and while he appeared fully grown, he was only a few months older than I was.

He kneeled down beside me and took a piece of cloth out of his pocket. He took some of the coins and wrapped the cloth around them before putting the cloth and coins in my hands.

"You're going to need these, batty-cat," he said quietly.

I realized that he wasn't going to hurt me and handed them back. "Stealing isn't right," I said quietly. "But since they can't use them, you should keep it. You saved me."

He smiled and rubbed my head between my ears with one of his hands while the other reached into his cloak. From it he pulled out a small plush dog, the same dog that was had been hiding in my closet. Smiling gently, he handed me the toy. "Since you don't want coins, allow me to give you some luck."

I stroked the head of the dog in wonder and looked up at the bat. "Thank you."

He rubbed my head again causing me to purr. "I have to go now or else my boss will kill me. See you, batty-cat."

I nodded, and he walked away. Leaving me sitting in the middle of a circle of corpses and covered head to toe in blood.

It was the first time that the dream so horrible usually had a nice ending. Though it was silly, the dream gave me hope and with new determination I readied to start my first lesson as a healer. This time I knew I would not fail.

* * *

"Greetings Katsu-san, Kioshi-san," one general says to us as we draw near the door.

"Greetings generals," we reply as we wait for orders.

"Your orders are to go and scout out the area around the base."

Kioshi and I nod, knowing that this will be our only chance to escape and find The Fox's Rose.

"We will leave as soon as possible," I reply.

The generals shake their heads. "No, we have scouts for tonight. You will work tomorrow night along with two other members of the army." One of the generals gestures to another tunnel that leads to the planning room and two pups walk over, both barely a year old. They have black hair and brown eyes but because of their ears and tails, it is obvious that one is a wolf while the other a dog.

Kioshi is less than impressed about this development and says, "You want us to pup-sit?"

"If that is your term for making sure that our borders are safe then yes."

I frown and speak before Kioshi can. "However, the pups do not have the experience needed to-"

With a glare, the generals speak as one and cut me off. "Experience is not a problem where you are going. We only want you to patrol the borders of the base. You are dismissed."

Before Kioshi or I can say anything about that, the pups along with the generals enter the planning room and close the door. Knowing that we only have to be sober for tomorrow, we return to the bar where Kioshi quickly orders twenty-five glasses of Wolf's Bane liquor while I order one Nightshade Ale. He does not speak until he has had fifteen of his twenty-five glasses and when he does, his voice is furious.

"Damn Generals… Treating us like a kit and pup. I'm over two hundred fricking years old for crying out loud!" Kioshi indiscriminately shouts at the ceiling.

"And shouting at the ceiling truly proves your point," I reply dully as I play with the berry in my own drink.

Kioshi says nothing towards me and instead swallows another glass.

After he drowns yet another cup, I quietly remark, "Perhaps it is a good thing we are remaining so close to the borders. If you continue to drink like that, you'll be more of a hazard than those pups because of your hangover."

"Shut it fox-boy," Kioshi says slowly and with slurs. "When I hit ten, I'll be just fine."

"You've already had seventeen."

He continues as if he had not heard me. "Just need some painkillers to dull the pain and shut up the voice."

"Voice?" I thought Kioshi was sane.

He nods. "When I get mad, his voice starts talking in my head." He grins and lifts up his cup. "I find the best way to drown him out is to get rid of the anger."

"And drinking does that wonderfully," I reply calmly and sarcastically.

Kioshi grins even more. "Exactly." He drinks another two shots and then stands up. "Alright, the voice is gone. Time to go kick some cat tails!"

Somehow, I'm reminded of Chu as Kioshi tries to make his way out of the bar. I estimate it will take him ten seconds to realize he is going in the wrong direction, and then another ten to walk into a wall.

I blink in slight confusion when Kioshi walks into a wall fifteen seconds after standing up but he never noticed he was going in the wrong direction. Perhaps Wolf's Bane is stronger liquor than I thought.

I finish my drink and then go to help Kioshi. I help him out of the bar, and then back to his room. Once there I help him to the washroom where he quickly purges his stomach of all the alcohol he consumed. Leaving him to it, I return to the main part of my room just in time to answer a call from Kazuma. Knowing that Kioshi won't hear anything over his vomiting, I feel safe in talking with Kazuma.

"Hey," he says.

"Any luck?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Not really but we found some warning signs for the third phase. Her wings and stuff changing colours are actually the last warning sign. Before that happens she will experience vomiting and dizziness but that doesn't really help you, does it?"

I shake my head. "No, not at the moment but thank you for the information."

He nods and quickly hangs up before Yusuke notices that he is talking to me instead of yelling at me. Withholding a sigh, I lie down on my bed and wait for Kioshi to stop vomiting. Once he has, we will discuss possible escape routes and hopefully remove ourselves from this prison. The sooner the better because I can't help but feel that Tsukino is in danger. Hopefully my instincts wrong but I have yet to fine them to be. Please let me be wrong.

* * *

**A/n: Nice long chapter for you. I hope you liked it and to be honest, I was planning on dragging out the fuming at the camp more but then I decided not to and realized that the plot wasn't as bad as I thought. It just needed a few touch-ups… Damn! I just remembered that I forgot about the elder. Kurama really needs a butt kicking, doesn't he? I guess I'll have to find some way to tie it in and get Kurama thinking a bit.**

**Also remember those plant guys from Maze Castle? The Production-Model Hominids are the same thing just the manga name which I felt was better since demons can't eat humans now.**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews and reading, and I hope to hear from you. See ya!**

**-d101**


	12. Learning Your Place

_Disclaimer: I own only my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Tsukino and Kurama are adjusting to the army life and both are having trouble. Kurama has been force to sit around and impatiently wait for an order to go outside while Tsukino has so far been unable to help the army. However times are changing as Tsukino is about to meet her next and final teacher and Kurama is allowed to leave the base for a scouting mission.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Twelve  
****Learning Your Place**

Night Ninety-Ninety One

The morning of the day Kioshi and I were to patrol our own borders we were less than impressed. Kioshi was fighting off a hangover while I was restless and wanted nothing more than to get to the cat base, find Tsukino and The Fox's Rose and finish the mission. For the first few hours of being conscious we did nothing but sit in our room. However, now it is nearing evening and we must make our way down to the bar where the pups, our appointed leaders for this 'mission', decided we would exit the base.

Because of the war, a soldier cannot always leave the base through the front door because should a cat see him or her leave they would know the location of the base. So to avoid that, when a demon is allowed to leave the base, they pick a location to dig, and the Black Demon Diamond wall is temporarily removed to allow the demon to dig out of the base.

For reasons unknown to Kioshi or I, the pups had decided the area near the bar was the best place to dig from so it is for that reason we are now making our way towards the bar. However, we have at least an hour before we need to be at the digging location so Kioshi and I decide to wander around the base.

As I catch sight of a familiar looking elder walking towards us, I can't help but feel that we should have stayed in our room until it was time to dig. We pause and bow before we start to walk by him, but he grabs my shoulder and tells Kioshi that he needs to talk to me and I will meet him at the bar later.

Not suspecting anything is amiss, Kioshi nods and leaves me to face the wrath of an elder.

"What are you doing here, yoko!? Warned you I did but you still come! Why?" he demands to know once Kioshi is out of earshot. "And where is the subject of your affection? Leave her not alone I hope!"

"Alone but safe," I reply.

"What reason have you for leaving her alone and in such dangerous times?"

"My own."

The elder's glare reminds me of a time when I was just a kit and learning the ways of Demon World and once more I hope that he has not seen through my disguise.

"Those are not enough to gamble her life," he sourly states.

"She is well," I argue.

"In what way and for how long, brainless kit?"

"She is well," I repeat, trying to ignore the restlessness that has become anger and guilt at the forced remembrance of our separation.

"Becoming not are lies."

"Neither are riddles, elder."

"You have become impulsive kit. Her love would do you good if you take it."

"This is not your concern as I am not your pup."

The anger in his face slightly fades as he sadly says, "Happiness for the young is an elder's concern. And happiness you have not without her."

"I soon will have it without her."

Anger once again appears on the elder's face as he glares at me through his good eye and stands over me to remind me of my place. "Foolish pup! Better she is then without one so full of lust, that she knows."

"Lust has nothing to do with it."

"Then why does she not draw near while you advance as she did once before?"

I frown. Does he actually know who I am? Or does he truly have me confused with another fox? And if he does know who I am, how does he know about the events between Tsukino and me while we were in Human World? "What are you saying?" I say slowly and deliberately.

The elder says something in a language I do not understand or recognize before he points at me and says, "Blind the humans have made you or stupid as you now fight against the higher power!"

Though it is horribly unlikely, I can't help but hope he has mistaken me for another. "I am not who you think I am."

"Sure you are, Ku-chan?" the elder mocks.

I try to keep the frown on my face despite my instincts willing me to be truthful to the dog demon who was once my mentor. "My name is Katsu."

"Forgotten not your teacher, Ku-chan, though it appears you have forgotten your mate," he says.

"She is not my mate."

"She is if not for your stupidity."

I glare at him and try to remain civil. Usually this is no problem for me, but the time in the base has made me restless, and the insults from Yusuke had made me crave a fight. "If it pleases you, please explain." I find myself forcing the words from my mouth in place of the words I would much rather say.

"Safer with you than with other men for shorter is her time than what you think."

My eyes narrow. "What are you saying?"

He just shakes his head and starts to walk away. "Taught you all I can, now find your own path."

I am about to run after him to demand answers when he suddenly turns and says, "One more thing, order rather than warn you this time I do, be wise with the young mixture not with your mind but your heart. Just as war is not a pup's game, neither is a female's heart. Good luck, young Yôko Kurama."

Before I can say anything in reply, the two pups who will be joining Kioshi and I on the mission appear in the entrance to another tunnel. The moment they spot me, they demand that I head towards the bar for it is time for the mission to start. With no other options, I allow myself to be lead to the bar where we meet Kioshi. Within seconds, Kioshi's claws and mine are covered in dirt as we start to dig away at the soil and ready to return above ground once more. However, it will take many minutes for us to reach there if those pups do not help.

Kioshi has also realized this fact and is glaring at them coldly as he digs. Minutes into digging he mutters to me, "Think we can bury them under this stuff and make it look like an accident?"

I shake my head. "Unfortunately not."

"So we have to put up with three hours of this as well as however long it takes us to dig out?"

I nod.

Kioshi groans and struggles to move a boulder. "I knew I should have brought a bigger flask."

I say nothing but nod and help him move the boulder before returning to digging.

After ten minutes, the pups tell us to hurry up, to which we reply that we would if they would help us. Unfortunately, it appears they would rather be lazy than practical and continue to watch us dig until we finally break though the top soil. Kioshi and I are the first to climb through, and we stretch as we wait for the pups. It is a great relief to finally be with nature once more instead of just roots.

The pups are not as relieved and instantly order us to move out before falling back into whatever conversation they were having while Kioshi and I were digging. From the words I unfortunately overhear, it should as if they are talking about females. Kioshi offers me a drink from the flask he is carrying when he sees my displeasure at their topic, but I shake my head. At least one of us has to be alert and able to fight in case anything attacks us.

Soon the pups talk becomes even more graphic, and my resolve crumbles. Turning to Kioshi, I take the flash from him and quickly swallow the bitter liquid. Just as quickly as I took the flask, I hand it back to him before the pups can see. Now, mind pleasantly fogged, I am able to have a few moments of peace.

"Where's the smell of alcohol coming from?" the wolf pup says suddenly as he turns his nose to the air.

Which one of you mutts have been drinking?" the dog pup adds while he turns to us.

Biting back a sigh of annoyance, I reply, "Perhaps your nose is catching the scent from the base. We did dig out right beside the bar." Like you told us to, I mentally add.

They both shake their heads. "The scent is too close and fresh for that," the wolf argues.

"Then may be you're just smelling what you want and are too young to handle," Kioshi replies.

They both puff out their chest in an attempt to appear older. "Who says we can't handle a drink?"

Kioshi laughs. "The men who have been drinking the stuff for years. Now turn around and let's get moving."

"You can't tell us what to do!" the dog replies angrily.

"I believe experience tells us we can," I say as I look around. Something was off but I was unable to figure out what. Perhaps taking that drink from Kioshi was not the best idea.

The wolf pup laughs. "Yeah right. You two can't be that much older than us. You don't even have mates."

"Being mated is not proof of age," I say wisely.

The pups ignore me and say, "How old are you anyways?"

"Over 3000," I reply deciding that it would be wise to go say how old I was soul-wise rather than body-wise.

The two pups scoff. "I bet you're only 3001," the dog pup says.

Which is still older than you are by many years, I silently growl with a glare.

"And how old are you, bat?" the wolf pup asks.

Kioshi grins. "I lost count after 2000."

Both their eyes widen before they realize what their facial expressions are, and they try to regain their angry expressions.

In a foolish attempt to reclaim his dignity, the dog pup says, "Yeah? Well I lost count after-"

"Two months?" I ask.

He turns red and says, "Watch it! My father is one of the generals. He can have you killed."

I smirk. "Ah, so you are the son of the one who is indebted to me. I'll have to remind him that without my plans, the cats would have won a long time ago."

Again both of the pups stare and then glare. "Let's get moving," they say as they start to walk away.

"Finally a wise word from them," Kioshi mutters to me as we start to walk, but I do not hear him for something in the bush has moved, and I smell something.

"Do you hear anything?" I ask just to be sure that the drink is not affecting my sight and sense of smell.

He pauses for a moment before he nods. "Cat I think," he mutters. "How are we going to lose Idiot One and Idiot Two?"

I grin, cocky from the Wolf's Bane. "Allow me." I kneel down to the ground and will the vegetation around us to move towards the pups and tangle them in the foliage. "That will buy us enough time to get out of here," I say over the pups terrified barking.

Kioshi grins evilly and then turns to the forest. "Let's go then."

I nod and follow him into the forest. Finally some action.

* * *

Taking My Place

I awoke the next day, worried and stressed but ready to prove myself useful to the army. After all, they had taken me in when no one would have, and they were my only chance to find Rose. So I quickly ate my breakfast and ran to the training room where I awaited my next and last teacher. As I waited my fear grew at the thought of what would happen if I failed this last test. Would I be forced to leave or would I join Neyuki, Neini, and their newly re-found parents as recruiters?

Before I could think of a logical answer to my question I was pulled out of my musing by the entrance of my teacher. Her brown eyes were filled with empty happiness as she closed the door and faced me. "Hey little sis," she said as she walked over.

I felt my mouth go dry as I nodded. In no way was I ready to face her at that point in time. I hadn't even thought of how I would explain the situation to her yet! Panic growing, I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat caused by fear, bowed, and said, "Hello Rose-sensei."

"So you learned how to talk?" She nodded to herself with an empty smile still on her face. "Alright, if you want to be formal you can. Now before we get started on teaching you to heal, what happened to you all those months ago?"

I quickly thought of a lie. "Kurama-san and I had to leave and do something back in Human World."

She nodded, her eyes starting to ice a bit, though at the same time they softened as if she hated the idea that she liked Kurama but also loved the idea. "Speaking of the bastard, where is Kurama?"

I sighed. "Probably over at the dog demon base."

Rose stared at me, her eyes no longer icing over but now filled with understanding but even that seemed fake. "So he got to you too?"

I shook my head, knowing what she was referring to as her eyes stared at the scar of the bite on my neck. "No. This mark was not from him. I got it in a battle," I explained. I knew I couldn't say I wasn't sure what the mark was from or else Rose would think some other demon had marked me without my knowing. It just made more sense to say it was a battle wound since that probably was what it was.

"Then why are you on different sides?" Rose asked.

I looked at the floor to hide the pain the fight caused me. "We had a difference in opinion about the mission. He thought joining the dogs would be the best way. I didn't like his way of ending the mission and left."

"Mission?"

I sighed. It was now or never since I wasn't sure if I would pass her test or see her again if I failed. Even if I didn't have my words planned out, I had to take my chances. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I said, "Kurama-san and I were sent to capture you because you stole the pieces of the Forlorn Hope."

She nodded with a frown on her face. "Weird, I thought they wouldn't care about a hunk of glass."

I cringed. "I think they wouldn't have if not for another problem."

She stared at me confused so I explained about my adventures, starting with my time in Human World and ending with my fight with Kurama. I left out a lot of details about the fight and Kurama's and mine awkward friendship and toned down what happened at the lake which caused me to regain my ability to speak, but I was sure that Rose got the idea. I finished by saying, "Basically, the only reason we are after you is because it's the only way to get me out of trouble." I sighed again. "I finally figured this out a little while ago, and now I want to help you get out of this."

Rose continued to stare. "What do you mean?"

I focused on the wall behind her because I felt I wasn't worthy to meet her eyes because of the danger I had put her in. I had been in the Spirit World prison and that was not a place I would wish on my worst enemy. "I want to help you so that I'm the one who pays for what I did, and you are able to get out of this mess. After all, it isn't fair that you have to pay for my mistakes when you wouldn't have paid otherwise."

Rose continued to stare at me before her eyes appeared to soften. "That's really sweet sis," she said slowly before a grin appeared on her face and she quickly and enthusiastically said, "But let's not think about annoying foxes. Let's start learning to heal."

I nodded and started to listen as Rose explained about how you use your demonic energy to heal. In the back of my mind, I recalled Kurama telling me not to use my energy, but I ignored the memory. He had said that I couldn't because my body hadn't healed. That had been a while ago, and I was healthy so why couldn't I use my energy? I decided.

After a few minutes, she led me out of the room and towards the infirmary. As we walked, I once again admired the beauty of the base around us. However as we neared the infirmary the pleasant scents of the nature soon turned sour, and the sounds of the base also changed from the soft sound of the wind to moans of pain and dieing breaths. The air became stale with the scent of blood and sickness. Somehow, the dogs had managed to find a demon who used a poisoned weapon that caused disease to enter the victim's system.

We came to a branch and paused as Rose gently moved a huge leaf, longer than I was tall, out of the way to reveal the infirmary. She entered the infirmary without a care, and I slowly followed, almost gagging as the scents of death, blood, and sickness increased. Once we were fully inside, the leaf fell back into place plunging the huge room into a darkness that only the glowing plants from the ceiling pierced.

After a few moments, my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I saw that there were rows upon rows of beds that stretched down towards the end of the branch. Most of the beds were filled with a demon who was either bleeding and starting to be bandaged, sleeping, or moaning under the bandages.

The true terror of the war hit me at that moment, and I was overcome with the need to vomit. Why I felt the terror much stronger that time than when I killed for the first time, I cannot say. Perhaps it was because this time, I didn't have a shoulder to lean on or maybe I saw these cats as my family and their pain turned my stomach into knots. Or perhaps it was just the overpowering stench of death. Regardless, after a few moments of dry retching, which Rose ignored, I finally regain control over myself and followed her over to a bed.

After watching her emotionlessly heal two demons, it was my turn. I felt my knees become weak as I imagined what my energy may do if I messed up. I had already used it to fuel two attacks. If I had messed up, I might have accidentally caused the wound to worsen. For a second, I almost considered telling Rose of my fears, but then I saw her eyes in the dark. They were cold and calculating, slightly similar to Kurama's, but the hidden pain that would have caused her to understand or pretend to understand and the will to keep herself distant was missing.

Because I knew that she wouldn't understand, I swallowed my fear, and I walked over to a bed where a small cougar kitten lay. She was young, barely a year old, and frightened as the blood stopped following from the wound in her stomach due to her lacking of blood to bleed. Swallowing once more, I slowly took a breath to calm myself and spoke softly the child. I told her that I was going to heal her, but when that didn't seem to calm her, I started to tell her about outside. The sights, scents, sounds, and everything else and to my relief this calmed her as well as myself.

Once she was calm, I put my hand over the open wound. Careful to only let my hand hover and not touch the wound, I started to concentrate on my energy. A warm feeling surged from my chest and moved towards my hand. I ignored Rose's whispered instructions that were distracting me, and closed my eyes so I could concentrate completely on my energy and my desire to save the kitten's life. A feeling of familiarity passed over me, and my fears vanished when I realized I knew what I was doing.

Barely five minutes had passed before I started to feel dizzy, but I forced myself to continue. I had to finish the job or the cougar would be in more pain than she needed to be. After a few more minutes, I managed to complete the job, and opened my eyes to see that the cougar had fallen into a relaxing sleep. Without looking away, I took the bandages from Rose and wrapped the other small cuts I couldn't heal. Before placing the bandages on the cuts, I cleaned them, took some green healing goo from a jar, and rubbed it on the wounds. Then I bandaged them and allowed Rose to lead me out of the cat hospital.

"Healing takes more energy than fighting techniques do if you are wondering why you feel so drained," Rose said to me as we walked.

I nodded and tried not to fall asleep on my feet or fall from the branch as I tried to figure out the way back to my room. "Why aren't there more healers with so many wounded?" I asked sleepily.

Rose frowned as she tried to think of how to explain the situation. "Not many demons are… suited for healing. I'm only a part-time healer in fact. I don't have the patience to be about dying demons for very long."

I felt my head started to nod and forced myself to remain awake. Thankfully, Rose saw that I was about to collapse and allowed me to lean on her. Trying to keep my eyes open, I mumbled, "So do you think I passed?"

Rose smiled down at me, but the smile didn't seem to reach her eyes. Maybe it had been only my imagination. "With flying colours," she replied. "Tomorrow I'll hand you over to the infirmary, and you can start working. There really isn't anything I can teach you. The only thing you can do now is work on strengthening your energy so you can heal more people without getting tired."

I nodded, and this time didn't bother to raise my head again as I fell into a calming and dreamless sleep.

* * *

We find the cat intruder moving around the forest that covers the west side of the base. For a moment, we watch the cat move about as I reach into a small bag I had tied to my belt. (Before Kioshi and I left our room, I had used my energy to grow some herbal remedies and weapons so that if I needed a weapon I wouldn't have to give away my position by making my energy known.) While my eyes are still on the cat, I remove two black leaves, one of which I give to Kioshi. After motioning for him to eat it, I eat my own leaf and see the dark forest come into greater focus, and the numbing effects of the alcohol fade slightly. While I am thankful for the return of clarity, Kioshi is not as grateful.

"What the hell was that leaf you just gave me, and what has it done to me?!" he hisses at me.

Once I am sure that the cat has not heard him, I reply, "Something that will allow us to think properly and allow us to catch whoever we are chasing, and don't worry. You can work on your hangover when we get back to the pups."

He glares at me but silently follows my lead as we move closer to the cat that is knocking on trees, obviously expecting to find some sort of hidden entrance.

We are about five metres from the cat before he notices our presence and starts sniffing the air and listening. Instantly, Kioshi and I cease all movement and wait for the cat to return to knocking on trees. However, the cat does not do this. Instead, he moves towards us, sniffing the air, and pulling out a sword as his green eyes search for signs of a patrol.

Suddenly, the cat stops in his tracks and jumps into a tree. At the same time, we hear the sounds of a conversation. A very familiar conversation.

Kioshi silently looks towards me and nods towards the sounds of the pups' voices. Without speaking or making a sound, he asks, 'Do we use them as bait?'

Equally as silently, I pull out the whip I had placed in my bag as an answer.

A grin appears on his face as he also pulls out his silver weapon and we wait.

Within seconds, the pups enter area where we are all waiting. They walk under the tree, and do not notice the cat. Waiting a second, the cat turns and leaps from the trees onto the pups. Kioshi and I do not move though. We wait until the pups cry for help as the cat starts to drag them away from the base. Then we burst from the undergrowth.

Startled, the cat releases the pups, turns tail, and runs. Kioshi and I give chase and within seconds have the cat tied up courtesy of my rose whip and Kioshi's scythe. With our blood barely even pumping, we return to the pups to find them as we left them. Scared and panting.

Knowing that the pups have lost enough pride for one night, we hand the cat over to them and order them to bring it into the base. They instantly are on their feet and are dragging the cat towards the front door as fast as they can. No doubt hoping that if they are fast enough the cat won't escape and attack them again.

The pups do not return after dropping off the cat so Kioshi and I continue to patrol the borders until the sun is almost at the horizon. Then we too re-enter the base to find the generals waiting for us at the entrance of the maze.

"Good morning, Katsu-san, Kiosh-san," they say when we are close to them.

We bow in reply and wait to hear why the generals want to see us.

"Shouta-kun and Daichi-kun returned to the base last night with some interesting news. Apparently, a cat attacked the base, and you two were nowhere to be seen. How do you explain this?" one general asks, a smile clear on her face showing that she knows what really happened.

"Is not a good warrior careful not to be seen until they attack?" I quietly ask.

They nod with wide grins which the light of the torches changes into smirks. "However, Shouta-kun and Daichi-kun have requested that they no longer work with both of you. So unfortunately, you will have to scout with only each other for back-up."

Kioshi and I nod and bow once more. "We will not disappoint."

They nod once more and turn to leave. "See to that and we shall see you in one month to speak of scouting."

We both instantly stand upright about to argue about shorting the wait, but the generals have already disappeared into the maze. Annoyed and defeated, we return to our room, and while Kioshi curses the generals under his breath, I am trying to think of a plan.

A month is far too long to ask us to wait. I need to get out of the base as soon as I can and find The Fox's Rose. What's more, I can't leave Tsukino alone. Who knows what trouble she has gotten into. How tainted she will be after all this. Also, if I don't find her and learn of her condition, Keiko will steal Yusuke's mirror and give me a piece of her mind. That would actually be painful with demonic hearing. Finally, I admit I'm starting to worry about her and looking at my compass has done little to comfort me for as Yusuke said, 'it does not give advanced warning.' Also, I doubt that the distance the compass shows is accurate because the value of how far she is from me has not changed. What's more, she is coming closer and closer to the third stage.

Because of those reasons, as Kioshi and I enter our room to rest, I decide that the next chance I have of escaping, I will do so. There is too much on the line to allow the members of authority to make my decisions for me… I have truly been friends with Yusuke too long but hopefully that will help me this time as I plan to break all the rules the army has created.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait.**

**1. Writing was evil.**

**2. I got a copy of Yu Yu Hakusho Tournament Tactics and got addicted to it.**

**3. Other personal reasons.**

**And 4. I'm having problems figuring out the plot of Into the Night and Look At This Photograph with make me worry about the future of this fic and put it off.**

**Anyways, sorry for the wait, thanks for reading and the reviews and I hope you are enjoying the story. I'll try to update sooner next time.**

**-D101**


	13. In His Absence

_Disclaimer: I own only my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Tsukino has finally found something she can do to help the cat army. After only one lesson from Rose, Tsukino is now a healer and ignoring Kurama's warning about not using her energy. Kurama, on the other hand, has finally managed to go on a scouting mission and, with the help of Kioshi, has captured a cat soldier. Unfortunately, Kurama will not be allowed to leave the base for a month and he cannot wait that long. He and Kioshi have to leave and get Tsukino and The Fox's Rose now.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Thirteen  
****In His Absence**

Being a Healer

I had thought that my first days of being a healer would be the most difficult, but I had been incorrect. Each time I tried to summon my energy to complete the healing I felt even weaker and had less control. I asked Rose about that after my second healing day, but she assured me that I had to feel worse before I could heal better because healing took more energy than attacking did and each day I was working with less energy because I didn't recover my energy as quickly as other demons because of my lineage. She also said that I was using my energy differently, which meant I needed more energy to help that change. When I gave her a confused look, she explained that healing energy took more out of a person because you used more energy for a longer period of time. When you were attacking, it would be concentrated in a small area and only take a second for the energy to leave. However, when you were healing, you had to spread your energy over a large space and keep it spread for minutes, sometimes even hours. Slowly my body would adjust to the demand for energy and then I would be fine but until then I would have to keep practicing she said.

Not suspecting anything was amiss, I nodded and returned to the infirmary to do my job. The number of cats that were wounded has increased, and instead on concentrating on completely healing each demon (which I didn't have the energy for) I worked on sharing my energy between the demons. Those with life-threatening wounds, I healed enough that they were in stable condition. Others with simple cuts and scraps, I healed with the gels and herbs that were in the infirmary. Unfortunately, the generals were not impressed with this and sent a messenger telling me to stop my way of healing and instead just heal some demons enough to send them back into the field again. Thankfully, Neyuki was with me when the messenger spoke and told me to ignore the generals.

Unlike many of the other demons who had come from the pits of Demon World and loved violence, she and a few other demons preferred to save lives instead of destroying them. Unfortunately, the violence lovers out numbered the peaceful demons, and it were the peaceful ones who were dying. Because of that Neyuki and her family had joined something called the resistance, a secret alliance with peaceful demons on both sides who were working from the inside to try to cripple the war. As Neichi and Neyuki had told me before, they were going to attack the generals, but during the time I was working at the base, the plan was starting to change directions. A young newcomer from the dog army had suggested instead of 'dropping to the masses' violent level' they should find another way to cripple the war. Because of that and under Neyuki's order, I continued with my slower but safer method of healing which kept soldiers out of battle for longer and meant we had fewer demons to fight with.

However, during my first week I found that you can't save everyone. Neini's and Neyuki's mother and father came into the infirmary with a heavy amount of blood loss and broken spines. I poured all the energy I had since they were the only life-threatening cases and even sent for Rose who didn't appear until it was too late. That was the third and fourth time I had seen someone die because of my actions or lack of action. I probably would have stopped healing right then if not for the fact that I was the only healer in the base and if I stopped healing even more demons would die.

Neyuki and Neini were even more broken. After all, for me it was guilt on my conscience, but for them it was the loss of two loved ones. Both refused to leave their rooms for days afterwards but when they finally reappeared, Neini took to loitering in the infirmary while Neyuki threw all her efforts into crippling the war and caring for Neini.

Neichi did not seemed hurt by the loss of his aunt and uncle, but then he probably didn't know them well because of the distance between families. Unlike bats who felt all bats were family, cats' family feeling kept close to their immediate families. However, he was a comfort to have around while Neini was trying to be helpful in the infirmary. Whenever he had finished his job for the day he would come into the infirmary and help me ready to close the place for the night. Guards stood outside the doors to alert me at the first sign of trouble, but I still had to make sure that the room was warm enough, that the room was clean, that the wounded had enough food and water, and that they were able to sleep through the night. Neichi was very helpful when it came to cleaning, and slowly he was losing the playboy act and showing that he actually was quite caring.

In fact, it was he who told me that Neini had decided to become a healer. He had heard her talking to Neyuki about it and he was wondering if I would teach her. When I pointed out that Rose was the teacher for healing, he argued that Neini was too young for formal training. Shortly after that Neyuki also approached me asking if I would start to train Neini. Once again I pointed out that Rose was the trainer, but Neyuki's answer was quite unlike Neichi's.

"I don't trust her," Neyuki replied coldly.

"Why not?" I asked as I paused in wrapping a demon's arm in bandages.

"There's just something about her that seems fake." She looked around the infirmary, shivering slightly when she looked in the corner where her parents had died. "You sensed it too, did you?"

Slowly I nodded and continued wrapping. "Yes but that's different. There's no harm in putting on an act to hide your true emotions."

Neyuki looked like she had unexpectedly swallowed something sour with her eyes narrowed and her lips tight together in a glare as she watched Rose heal a demon. "Still though, she says that she was the lover of Yôko Kurama. If that was true, why didn't she go track him down when the rest of us found out at Dark Tournament?"

I shrugged and muttered a few calming words to the wounded demon before taking my first aid kit and walking over to the next bed to check another demon's temperature. "Maybe he hurt her badly, and she didn't want to see him anymore?"

I could feel the heat of Neyuki's glare on my back. "Then why does she so proudly announce that they were lovers with her name?"

Taking a pen and paper, I wrote down the temperature and walked over to the cabinet at the back of the room. "I don't know but I agree that something is off about Rose. Maybe she is still bitter with whatever happened with them and thinks that she will get over it if she faces it."

"That doesn't explain why her scent is so weird."

Looking away from the paper notes I was keeping, I tilted my head at her. "Weird?" I repeated.

She nodded. "She smells like wild roses but also a copper like smell that only raccoons have and no demon smells like wild roses unless they use it as a weapon which she doesn't."

I closed my eyes to try to block out the memory that appeared at the mention of a rose whip, his favourite weapon or so it appeared. With some effort, I changed the subject. "Anyways, about Neini-chan's training, you sure you want me to train her? I've never done anything like this before."

"If you're willing, I'm sure I want you to teach her."

Swallowing slightly, I nodded.

A small smile appeared on her face and she hugged me. "Thank you Tama-chan, you have no idea what this will mean to her."

"I think I can guess but remember I've never been a teacher before so if I can't teach her properly don't blame me," I told her before sending her off to finish her job for the day and returning to my own.

The next day Neini started her classes. Unlike Rose, I used myself as a test subject because I didn't want Neini to feel guilty about hurting a dying demon even more. Taking a small knife, I would cut my finger and encourage Neini through the steps of healing. After her attempts, I would have her bandage the cut before healing the wounded and allowing Neini to watch.

It's hard to say how many demons I healed during my first two weeks, and I can't say they were all grateful to be healed by a kitty-bat, but it was a good experience to be at the cat demon base. Even though most of the cats were wary of me, I had managed to make some good friend such as Neyuki and her little sister. I think that I would have even gotten a crush on Neichi when he wasn't acting like a playboy if it wasn't for Kurama's words.

Sorta pathetic to say it but I still thought about him and my friends in Human World while I was at the base. Sometimes I thought about the good times we had, such as 'saving' Keiko while she was expecting and returning home after the movies to see an enraged Yusuke and a calm human Kurama. Other times I would think about Kurama's and my fight, and his words. And then there were other times, usually after the evenings when Rose and I would try to think of a plan, when I would think about how my friends would be affected by the plan. They would be hurt that I had left them and to some point betrayed them by giving up my chance to return to them, but they would get over it. I was sure of that fact. Even if they weren't fake friends who would leave me to rot in the jails of Spirit World, they would be forced to forget about me because there would be no way that they could break me out.

Sometimes the thoughts would even enter my mind while I was healing and I would have to pause and recollect my thoughts. However unwanted thoughts were not the only thing that interrupted my work. After my first week of healing, a strange pain erupted in my stomach area and sometimes even appeared in my chest. I also started getting headaches. Worried that someone would notice and fuss, I tried to hide and ignore the pain the best I could.

Sadly, that plan failed when Neichi had brought me some lunch from the mess branch, and I nearly collapsed when I felt pain in my arm even worse than when I dislocated it at Genkai's during my first few days there when I was trying to get away from Stato.

Neichi was instantly at my side and demanding to know what was wrong. Feeling guilty for scaring him, I explain about the pains. He demanded that I see a healer and then realized that I **was** the healer. I couldn't help but laugh at that, but the laughs disappeared when he demanded to know what the fox had done to me before I met up with Neini, Neyuki, and him on the roof. Not realizing what Neichi was truly asking, I told him that the fox hadn't harmed me physically in any way.

Though this did little to calm Neichi, he did allow me to continue with my day but kept a close watch on me. The only time he really left me alone was when I was with Rose, and I almost wished he wouldn't leave me alone with her. Neyuki had a point that Rose was odd. Even though I didn't notice the scent thing, during the evening when we were supposed to be planning she seemed to ask me more questions about my relationship with Kurama.

We would start on track with listing ideas while shooting them down before she would turn the subject to Kurama, and I would find myself remembering the fight and the pain. One example happened three weeks after my becoming a healer when Rose thought of a plan that might have worked if not for my moral code. It started with us shooting down ideas like usual until Rose suggested that I talk to and explain the situation to Koenma.

To that I replied, "I don't even really know the guy. He just let me off because he thinks that Kurama-san likes me."

Rose was sitting on my bed with me and was hanging over the side allowing the blood to rush to her head turning her face red and giving me the creeps. "Speaking of Kurama," she said after nodding to my rebuttal to the idea, "you never explained how close you two got."

I resisted the urge to groan at the change in subject and answered so that we could get back on track. "It was a one-sided crush. Nothing happened, nothing would have happened, and it's over."

Rose sat up and leaned towards me, her face still red. "You still like him, don't you? His human side I mean."

I shook my head, furiously. "Human or demon, it doesn't change the fact that he only wants me for pleasure."

Rose stared at me with a determined look on her face, and I carefully moved away from her. With the red face, she reminded me of Chu when he was drunk and known to attack with hugs. "Did he actually admit to that?"

I opened my mouth to reply and then closed it. He had never said it outright but then he never said anything outright. "He might as well have," I replied as I looked away from her.

"And you are sure he only wanted you for pleasure?" she asked.

"Why else would he bother?"

She shrugged and leaned back before she looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful frown on her face. "I don't know but you seem to like contradicting yourself. You've had been saying that it was a one-sided crush right? And nothing would come from it?"

I nodded.

"But now you say that he only wanted you for pleasure."

I turned back to face her and blinked in confusion. "You lost me. Where am I contradicting myself?"

She looked back at me. "In order for Kurama to want you for pleasure, he would be trying to get you to fall for him, right? But from what you told me, it appears that he is doing the opposite. When you finally fell for him, he suddenly became cold."

I closed my eyes and tried to end the conversation. "Probably because he realized that if he did anything then, he would still be stuck with me until the end of the mission and that if he did anything while we were back in Human World Keiko-chan and Botan-chan would have killed him."

Rose shook her head. "There's probably another reason," she muttered before saying, "Does Kurama know that you don't have a mate?"

I shrugged and wished the conversation would end. I was having bad enough headaches without questioning Kurama's motives. Probably not. He never asked, and I never told him."

Rose nodded and while her face appeared understanding, her eyes were sparkling in glee. "That would explain the sudden changes in temperature."

I stared, and she glared at me as best she could with her gleeful eyes.

"You really are dense, aren't you?" She sighed. "Kurama became cold because he thought that he was trespassing on another male's turf. That's probably why he started that fight with you in the first place."

"Or he is just a jerk and realized that he couldn't put up with me if he couldn't use me."

"Or he actually decided to grow up and get an honour code."

I was silent for a moment before I said, "Okay what?"

Rose frowned. "You didn't honestly think that Kurama was the honour-code type did you?"

I wasn't sure how to answer so I remained silent. Even though I slightly knew of his past as a thief from rumours, I still thought that he had an ounce of honour, but it appeared that Rose knew otherwise.

Rose correctly interpreted the cause of my silence and nodded. "It didn't matter to him if the demon was mated or unmated as long as they were pretty."

Before I could stop myself, I muttered, "Which were you?"

Rose looked down at her feet in appearing sadness but her ears did not move forward as they would if she was sad and her tail was moving side to side excitedly. "Unmated which is probably the reason I didn't last very long. There were two reasons Kurama was interested in a girl. Her looks and the challenge. I made the mistake of playing hard to get when I should have just pretended to fall for him."

Confused by her conflicting body language, I could only nod.

Rose didn't seem to notice though as she continued talking."I appeared to be doing fine. Lasted over a hundred years but then," she paused, "He came in with the news that my half-brother had died. I had thought that he had drunk himself to sleep that night. He looked so pitiful…" She was silent for a moment. Lost in memories I thought. Suddenly she looked up at me, her eyes seemingly dead. "The next morning I awoke to my half-brother poking me and Yoko gone." She suddenly laughed, an unusually natural sound, before falling back into her calm voice and sparklingly eyes. "At least you managed to get away. Still though, I wish he would feel regret for his actions. Maybe a bit of heartbreak," she mused aloud as she looked out the window of my room and to the plains that surrounded the tree.

I carefully backed away from her. Something about Rose seemed more off than usual, as if her mind had just seconds before it fell into the chasm of insanity. "Rose-san?" I hesitantly asked, trying to bring her back to reality.

A horrible grin appeared on her face as she looked back at me. "I think I just came up an idea that can get us what both of us want," she whispered and instantly I knew I had made a horrible mistake and maybe would not be able to fix it.

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter I know but it wasn't a very long wait now was it? Anyways, I have the plot figured out for ITN and LATP so have no fear this story will not be waiting for updates because of my confusion of the plot. Other reasons may happen like me travelling but I don't think that will be a problem.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. Also thanks to Shea279. That story we wrote really helped with the scene with Rose.**

**See ya if you review or at the next chapter.**

**-D101**


	14. Lust or Love

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

Recap: Rose has a plan to get revenge on Kurama and, at the same time, get herself out of trouble and Tsukino into trouble. Kurama, meanwhile, is unaware of the plotting happening in the cat demon base. Instead his attention is focused on capturing The Fox's Rose and worrying about Tsukino's safety.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Fourteen  
****Lust or Love?**

Day Hundred-Ten

It was a week before we were able to talk to the generals about going scouting earlier. During the week we spent sitting around the base, we were searching the Black Demon Diamond walls for signs of a weakness or a way to move them. There were no such things except for the narrow and low tunnel that lead from the front gate to the maze-like base. However, Kioshi and I were unable to consider that an escape route due to the fact that the hole we would make while digging would be discovered before we could finish it and the tunnel would most likely collapse. Because of the lacking of escape routes, Kioshi and I were forced to wait to see the generals instead of merely disappearing into the night.

More than once Kioshi suggested fighting our way out of the base, but I shook my head at the idea. We were vastly outnumbered, and if we were captured during the fight we would be killed instantly and the mission would end in failure.

"And your little batty-cat would be stuck with The Fox's Rose forever," Kioshi added before quickly disappearing from the room before I could even look away from the plans of the dog demon base Kazuma had sent to me from Spirit World.

Once Kioshi was gone I merely shook my head and called Kazuma to see if he had any information on The Fox's Rose or Tsukino's condition. In fact, it was just as we were finishing the call that a small pup brought the message that Kioshi and I were to see the generals in the far north corner of the base where the prisoners were kept and interrogations took place.

When I received the news, I quickly went and found Kioshi at the bar. Once he was sober enough to walk on his own, we headed towards the north corner. We found the generals deep in the torture chambers watching a cat slowly being ripped to shreds behind a glass wall. They didn't hear us arrive until I coughed to alert them of our presences.

Startled, they turned to face us, and the glares on their faces were not a comforting sign.

"Katsu-san, Kioshi-san," said one general stiffly.

Kioshi and I bowed respectfully and waited to hear the reason for the sudden meeting. However, it appeared the generals had other plans.

"Where are you both from?" was the first question we were asked.

"From the west," I replied while Kioshi explained that he was from the east.

If possible, the generals' glares became colder. "Then why do you both wear the colours of the North."

I looked down at my black tunic in confusion while Kioshi appeared to look at his navy blue hat.

"Last time I checked, blue hats were the west and red ones were the north," Kioshi said as he placed his hat back on his head.

"Before the Demon World Tournament they were, however, just as the structure of Demon World has changed since the first Demon World Tournament so have our clans," a general replied.

"Any true fox or bat demon would know that," added another.

"And how would a dog know that?" Kioshi hissed, the alcohol not quite out of his system.

The generals stood high and puffed out their chests to appear smug and superior. "It is our business to know and now that the cat demon you captured has managed to escape we are sure you are spies."

They stupidly paused to let the information sink in.

"And what proof do you have?" I asked as I crossed my arms so that my rose bud fell into one of my hands.

"One, you are dressed in the wrong clan colours, a mistake no insider would make." The generals moved closer, and both Kioshi and I hear movement from behind the door behind us.

"Two, the cat had no problems escaping which suggests that he was released."

Kioshi and I both looked at each other out of the corner of our eyes, and I slightly nodded to the glass wall that now showed an empty chamber. Silently, he reached behind his back.

The generals were grinning, sure they were right and had won. "And three, the clans have never had any pups who go by the names Kioshi or Katsu."

Behind us the door suddenly was kicked open and swords slashed into our afterimages. We were already on the other side of the room breaking through the glass and running through the base. For a moment, I was strongly reminded of my days as the King of Thieves in Demon World and the adrenaline rush of the chase.

With the aid of my plants and Kioshi's blade, the rock hard walls fell before us until we reached the edge of the maze where the walls were Black Demon Diamonds. After looking in Kioshi's direction, I ran towards the front gate. If we were quick, the other dog demons wouldn't be able to catch up and capture us. Thankfully, we were quick and were even able to run to our room to grab our bags of supplies that we had prepared. So with the help of my compass to locate Tsukino's energy, we were off in the direction of the cat demon base. Or so we thought.

For reasons at that time unknown, the watch led us right back to the spot where Tsukino and I had parted ways. Once we arrived at that spot the red point of the compass turned blue. Due to Kioshi's presence I was unable to contact Koenma and demand an explanation. Because of that we continued to walk in the direction the compass lead us. Surprisingly, we did not walk into any walls as we would if we were using a GPS, which caused me to believe that the compass was finding Tsukino's location by following the trail her demon energy left on the ground she had walked on. While that explained why the compass had given the impression that Tsukino hadn't moved for many weeks, it did little to comfort me. Because of the tracking method of the compass, our progress was slow. So much so that we were forced to spend the night in a small rundown house, for lack of a better term.

Outside, even without the door being kicked in, the home looked ready to collapse. The structure was starting to sag and the roof buckle making the house appear as if it was slowly imploding. Inside, the paint was peeling, there were obvious signs of water damage, and Tsukino's scent was everywhere. Thankfully though, there were no signs of a battle, which caused me to believe that whoever had kicked down the door had entered while the house was empty. However, I was still at a loss why Tsukino would come to such a place in the first place.

I was not the only one wondering what Tsukino's motives were. Kioshi was also looking around the place for any clues of what happened to Tsukino. "Why would she come to a dump like this?" he finally asked after looking through the surprisingly clean bathroom, and small bedroom and pitiful kitchen that the front door led into.

I shook my head as I sat down within the bedroom. "We'll have to ask her when we find her but for now we'd better rest since we have no idea how far away she is."

Reluctantly, Kioshi nodded but did not listen. Instead he opened the closet despite my orders not to touch anything. Deciding to ignore the bat instead of trying to force him to obey, I lied down on the floor using my bag as a pillow and tried to ignore her scent.

Seconds after I had laid down, Kioshi said, "What's your batty-cat's name again?"

Glaring at the wall because of the reminder, I calmly replied, "Tama."

"And you are sure that's her name?"

I nodded but did not turn to face him.

"And she didn't give you a fake name?"

I paused, thinking back to when I first met Tsukino. Her face had been scared but quickly became angry when I asked for her name. She had paused and then replied, "Tsukino." Until then, I had never thought about the possibility that she had given us a fake name but that would explain why it took her so long to reply. However, she was very close to Keiko and Botan and I doubted she would have left Human World without telling them her real name.

Unable to answer, I turned over to face Kioshi and asked, "Why do you ask?"

Kioshi held up a small dog stuffed-toy that had seen better days. Its eyes were falling off, and someone had cut the fabric and resewn it to give the dog fangs and claws. "Because I gave this toy to a friend of mine when I was little."

I frowned. "Are you sure it's even the same dog?"

He nodded and turned the dog over where 'bat-boy' was written in bold symbols on its stomach. "I would never forget the claws and fangs I gave him."

I nodded. "Perhaps she sold it and Tama-chan bought it."

Kioshi shook his head. "She wouldn't have done that. She loved Inumaru, and how can you still call her 'Tama-chan'? If I had that bad of a fight with a girl I liked I doubt I'd be even able to picture her face without flinching in guilt."

I turned over on my side, wishing that Kioshi would stop his attempts to make me feel guiltier, and muttered, "Habit."

"So is 'Tama-chan' the reason you don't wear the right colours?"

"I could ask you the same thing since it appears you gave me a fake name."

I heard Kioshi move to lie on the floor. "You just asked for a name, and I gave you one. I never said it was my real one. You just assumed that, but if you want a name to call me by-"

"Kioshi will do." I replied, ending the conversation and allowing me to try to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I was unable to because the knowledge that the trip back to Tsukino would not be as quick as I would have liked. Many times I found myself wondering what lies The Fox's Rose had told her and if she believed them. Also, having her scent so close had made me restless, and it was many hours before I fell asleep.

I awoke around sunrise the next morning panting slightly as I waited for my eyes to return to their blue colour since I had no doubt that they had turned red during the night. Having her scent around once more had caused my mind to create fantasies, which I shall not record in case Yusuke or Kazuma ever get a hold of this book. However, the dreams had allowed me to more clearly understand the elder's words. The reason I ever reacted towards her was because my inner demon was attracted to her which caused lust. Eventually, that transferred over to the human side of my personality and I had started to mistake it for love since both are easy confuse when one is human. However instead of happiness and relief at knowing that my feelings will fade once the mission is over and I will be able to avoid her, I felt self-disgust and worry at the thought of what could happen if she allowed my advances. The last thing I need is another accidental mating, and Tsukino has shown that she is attracted to me, most likely only because of her mate's mark.

Shaking my head to clear it of side-tracking thoughts about the dream, I concentrated on one thing; the best way to avoid another accidental mating was to avoid Tsukino. Therefore, I had to catch The Fox's Rose as soon as possible and get away from Demon World and Tsukino as soon as possible.

Kioshi's stirring pulled me from my thoughts and after a quick breakfast we returned to following the compass. We made better time that day, and within ten days we had found the cat base. However, we were unable to enter until later due to the cat patrols. After studying the base for four days, I concluded that the only and safest way to enter was to be captured. Kioshi was hesitant at first but eventually he agreed and now tonight we will put the plan into action.

***

After finishing the update on my journal, I lock it with a vine enriched with my energy and place it in my tunic. Satisfied that no one will be able to remove or read it, I turn to Kioshi who is glaring at me.

"If we get killed, I blame you," he hisses as we start to walk towards the cat base.

"If we get killed, it will because you didn't follow the plan," I mutter as we approach the giant tree. Noticing the eyes watching us from the tree, I say in a normal tone. "However, soon the war will be over and we'll be able to return to our normal lives."

Still glaring at me, Kioshi replies, "Yeah, but things will be pretty boring after that. I mean there won't be anymore cats to attack or boss around."

I nod in agreement and listen for the sounds of the cats coming to attack us. It appears they don't consider us a threat since there are only two cats. One behind us and in front of us. Kioshi notices as well and looks over his shoulder.

"Do you sense anything?"

I shake my head as he looks forward again. "Probably just a low level kitten. We have to getting close to the base by now."

Kioshi nods, and we continue to walk forwards towards the base. The cats allow us to do this until we are also at the foot of the tree. Once there, they charge and engage in battle with us. Kioshi and I hold back and try to appear as though we are weak demons. It works and the cats waste no time 'defeating' and tying our hands. Unfortunately, they also place a black collar on both Kioshi and I. Unsure of the purpose for the collar, I try to create one of my plant weapons to cut it so that Kioshi and I will be able to escape later. A sharp sting attacks my spine causing me to almost fall to the ground in pain. Too late, I realize that we should have never allowed ourselves to be captured.

The cats are far from gentle as they force us to climb the tree where they hand Kioshi and me over to a group of four cats. After pausing to wait for the cats to exchange information, we walk over the branches into a wooden room filled with cages, tables, and weapons. Kioshi is removed from my side at this point and I am forced to lay down on one of the tables. They carefully make sure I cannot move or escape before leaving the table side and moving towards the wall of weapons.

As a thief and a supposed traitor to all demon kind, torture is nothing new to me, and though the weapons they used stung for many moments, they were nothing compared to Karasu's bombs from Dark Tournament. Nothing in all three worlds could cause as much pain as his attacks did. After over an hour of torture, the cats finally give up and remove my bloody body from the table before throwing me into a cage with Kioshi who seems to feel as badly as I look.

Panting slightly, he asks what questions the cats asked me. Unable to remember, I shrug and ignore the pain that stabs through my shoulders. We do not talk anymore after that and quickly fall asleep to allow our wounds to heal. Sometime during the night, however, I awake again and find myself staring into The Fox's Rose's eyes.

Smiling impishly, she moves closer to me and licks my face. I reach for my Rose Whip only to be reminded of the metal collars' abilities by a sharp pain. Placing her hands on my chest, she starts to send some of her energy into my body, causing my wariness to grow.

"Sleep well Kurama," she mutters before I close my eyes and remember nothing more.

* * *

**A/N: So that's another short chapter but it shows what Kurama was up to while Tsukino was being a healer. Sorry for not uploading faster, but my cousins were visiting and I finally fixed the water damage that my window caused way back in… March or April? Anyways, thanks for reading and the reviews. I hope you are enjoying the story and continue to do so. Until next chapter, See ya!**

**-D101**


	15. Reunion

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

Recap: Rose has a plan to get revenge on Kurama and, at the same time, get herself out of trouble and Tsukino into trouble. Kurama however is unaware as he and Kioshi have managed to enter the cat base and are awaiting a second day of torture.

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Fifteen  
****Reunion**

Day Hundred-Eleven

This morning I awake to find my wounds from yesterday healed but myself feeling slightly dazed as if The Fox's Rose's energy had a sedating effect on me. However, that dazed feeling quickly fades as five cats enter the room where Kioshi and I are caged. Within minutes, we are dragged out and sent to different rooms. I once again find myself strapped down on the cold metal table and watch silently as my tormentor debates with himself what weapon to use on me. As I wait for the torture to start, I look around and notice that the other cat who was standing guard at the door had brought my bag with her.

A sharp pain in my leg quickly moves my attention to the cat faced demon near my feet as he removes the red-hot metal from my skin. There is no doubt in my mind that it will scar even with the best of healing as it has both cut in deeply and has burned. Thankfully it is only a straight line instead of some written word. Ignoring the pain, I look passively at the wound before turning my attention to the demon who wounded me.

"I'm only going to ask once," the cat says as he moves the scorching dagger close to my face. "How were you planning on destroying the cats?" His red ears twitch as he wants for my answer.

I say nothing and try not to flinch when the dagger hovers over my left cheek, its heat causing me to close my left eye.

"I'll be nice and ask once more. How were you going to attack us with such a small force?"

Calmly, I open both my eyes and ignore the heat from the metal. "We were not," I reply. "My partner and I were merely looking for someone."

The dagger is removed from my face as the demon motions to his comrade whose face is hidden in shadows. "Then how do you explain this!" he demands to know as his partner reaches into the bag and pulls out what the cats seem to believe is the dog's secret weapon.

The urge to laugh almost overpowers my calm disposition, but after the urge passes I wonder how the 'weapon' had come to be in my bag.

My torturer is grinning as he replies, "See! I knew it!" He waves the small stuffed toy dog in my face. "It is a weapon. Now how were you planning on using this to kill us?"

"Perhaps you can explain to me how a small toy can be used as a weapon."

"Explain yourself. Where did the dogs come up with this device!"

I cannot help but chuckle. "Perhaps you should ask the batty-cats you have working for you. They will most likely be able to answer your questions better than I can as it seems they like stuffed toys. Maybe they know who created it."

His glee turns to anger, and he stabs my chest with the dagger from his belt. "You accuse our wonderful healers of treachery!"

Trying not to winch as blood flows from the wound in my chest, I can't help but smirk in amusement at the cat's insanity of thinking a small toy was a weapon of mass destruction. "Wonderful and traitors are not words I would use to them if they are the batty-cats I know."

He stabs me again. "Explain you underhanded fox!"

To annoy him, I remain silently and calmly watch as his face turns red under his fur.

Quickly though, his glare turns into a smirk showing many fangs, most of which are broken. "Going to be quiet now?" he asks far too sweetly for my taste as he takes a needle filled with some clear fluid from his partner. He pauses for a second before stabbing the needle into my right arm. It feels almost as if fire is burning in my veins and through the pain I hear him say, "Let's see if we can loosen those lips."

It is only after they leave that I spit out the blood that has collected in my mouth. Panting, I turn my face to the side so I do not choke on it. Everything aches or pains me in some way, and I believe that I have found a sadist who has surpassed Karasu's obsession with pain and killing. Never had I felt pain worst than this, and I try to resist the tears. I spit more blood out of my mouth as I fight to keep my breathing steady. The acid burns hurt the worst out of all the wounds, and the pain continues to grow as more of my body is eaten away at. However, I am unable to slip out of consciousness due to the drugs I had been given before the true torture began. A drop of water falls from the ceiling and falls into one of my wounds causing me to hiss in pain and try to move away from the dripping ceiling. Unfortunately, I am unable to escape from the water drops due to my other wounds make themselves known in one great pain as I try to move, and I forcedly become rigid. Unwanted, tears start to move from my eyes and fall onto the wounds on my face, causing them to burn from the salty water.

What had I gotten myself and Kioshi into?

* * *

A Sight from Hell

Dreams were not uncommon for me to have, but after the dream in which I met the stranger, who gave me the stuff dog, the dreams seemed to become better. Most of the time they were nonsense, but once or twice I would have a nice dream in which a knight in a shining white tunic would save me. The dream that stood out the most in my mind was when I first dreamed about him.

In the dream a group of demons in the middle of an alley surrounded me as usual. One threw a knife which the ribbon that held my hair in place causing it to fall to just past my shoulders, but before they could touch me, a man suddenly jumped down from the roof to stand in front of me. Even though I only saw the back of him, he was breathtaking with an air of confidence around him.

My mind dazed by the dream, I barely noticed when he told me to cover my ears and cover my eyes. However, it didn't matter because I was only able to see him and for whatever reason couldn't hear. It was almost as if I had been drugged in my dream. However, I slightly snapped out of my drugged state as he turned towards me, and I saw how cold his eyes were and the fox ears on his head. Instinctively, I took a step back and found myself pressed against the wall. He was just like them. A pureblood and full of primal urges.

A smirk— no, a smile appeared on his mouth and his eyes were so soft I wondered if I imagined their coldness. Ears twitching slightly, he quietly said, "It's alright little flower. No one is going to hurt you tonight. Least of all me."

Slowly, I nodded and muttered, "Thank you," before moving to run around him. But my actions were obvious, and he blocked my way.

"Where do you live?"

After swallowing, I replied, "At the Hikaru Bar."

He bowed slightly and offered me his hand, "Would you allow me to escort you?"

In the dream, I felt my face heat up as I slowly nodded and took his hand. Pulling slightly, he pulled my hand around his arm and led the way. We reached the door of the bar quickly, and I found myself unable to look away from him. A small smile was on his face, and he leaned towards me, staring deep into my eyes. Unsure of what was happening, I tilted my head upward and waited. Our lips were millimetres apart when Neini woke me up.

Soon it became a cycle. I would dream about him, and Neini would wake me up at the worst time… or best time. Over time I would almost say that I looked forward to the dreams, even wanted to meet this person for real. But then reality would sink in, and I would remember that he was only a dream. He was so charming, loving, and courteous though that I found myself wishing he could be real. For a little while, I was almost ashamed of my attachment to this dream character because of my stubbornly remaining feelings for the human Kurama. My heart could just not understand that what he said in his demon form was also how he felt in his human form so I continued to long for him. Because of that, it felt almost like I was in love with two men and cheating on them. Thankfully, my brain understood that Kurama didn't care and that my dream man was just that. A dream and because of that, no pain would come from the 'relationship' but neither would anything else. So I continued to dream and enjoy the bliss of a happy fictional relationship.

However, my happy dreams and calming lifestyle quickly ended when Rose explained her brilliant, fool-proof plan.

"It's perfect," she explained on that fateful day. "All you have to do is seduce him and then attack him. Then I'll come to the rescue and you run. There's no way it can fail, and Kurama will feel heart-break at knowing that you don't actually love him."

My attention vanished the moment I heard the word seduce, and I felt the blood drain from my face before returning to make it bright red. There would be no way I could do that even if I wanted to. Mixed-breeds were not seducers; they were the seduced. And even then, I had no doubts that my curse would act up just as it had in the slime ogre incident. And if that happened, there would be no way I could attack him. Finally, the plan was against my morals. I tried to explain this to Rose, but she refused to listen. With no other options, I said, "We would need Kurama-san here in order for it to work."

Rose grinned. "You'll see that there isn't any problem with that."

Before I could ask what she grabbed my arm and dragged me to one part of the base I had never been. Moans of pain and a fearful aura around the branch Rose was leading me towards caused fear to erupt in me, and I wanted nothing more than to run the other way. For a second, I almost did but then Rose pulled on my arm and smiled her seemingly understanding smile at me.

"Come on. We have some healing to do. The new prisoners are causing quite a scene, and we wouldn't want them to hurt themselves worse now would we?"

I paused in mid-step. My fear and instincts telling me to run while my healer sense of duty demanded I help those in pain. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded and allowed her to lead me into a branch lit only by lamp plants and filled with doors. After passing at least twenty of them where screaming could be heard coming from, we arrived at a place that greatly reminded me of the Spirit World prison. Only instead of separate rooms serving as cells, the prisoners were locked in cages. Many of them glared at Rose and me darkly as we passed so I kept close to Rose trying to swallow the fear that made breathing almost impossible.

Finally, Rose stopped walking and stood in front of a cage at the very end of the branch with empty cages all around. Not realizing Rose had stopped, I almost walked into her, and it took me a moment to realize that she was talking with Neichi.

"Have they said anything yet?" Rose asked as her eyes darted over to the cage where two figures lay. One was slumped against the far wall while the other was face down on the floor. Neither of them making a noise.

Neichi shook his head. "Nothing. The bat is especially stubborn. If it wasn't for the smoke in the cage that sedates the prisoners, he'd probably be attacking us right now through the bars."

Rose nodded and turned to me. "Now Tama-chan, we are going to heal the prisoners. I'll take care of the one by the wall and you can take care of his wasted friend, okay?"

The way she could compare drunkenness and such injury and act so cheery about it made me sick to my stomach, but I nodded and moved towards the door with Rose. Neichi unlocked it and followed us in, but in the door way I stopped dead. One of my hands flew to my mouth while the other to my throat to stop myself from making a noise. As soon as I saw him, I knew I should have never followed her to that room.

* * *

I slowly realized that both my wrists were broken when the guards threw me back into the cage I share with Kioshi. At the time, I was a mass of pain, and it was hard to tell what was broken or damaged and what wasn't, but time and the smoke in the cage have dulled the pain slightly. However, I still cannot move from my position on the floor so I lay face down trying to find some strength to continue on.

Dimly I can hear Kioshi's breathing, but it does not bring me comfort. Soon the cats will tire of our silence and just kill us and because of our collars there is no way for us to fight back. Also The Fox's Rose has spotted me and is probably making plans to leave so we have to escape before she gets too far ahead. Finally, I can't let Tsukino see me like this. If she knew that I was in the base, our cover would be blown, and they would suspect her to be a spy for the dog demon army. I would not wish this torture on even the elder of the Toguro brothers. However, in our present state neither Kioshi nor I are even able to move so we will have to wait for the healers before we can leave. I can only hope that Tsukino listened to my warning and is not a healer.

The door to the cage opens, and I hear our jailer shout out that our healers are here. It sounds as if three people have entered, but two have stopped at the entrance while the other has moved towards Kioshi. Confused by the lack of movement, I warily turn my head to see the people at the door, but before I can see the people at the door I feel a sharp kick to my broken ribs.

Coughing up blood, I instinctively curl into a ball and try not to cry out from the pain as I'm kicked onto my side so that I'm facing the door. Quickly, the foot comes down on my ribs once more. Unfortunately, I fail and a small yelp passes my lips causing my attacker to pause and allowing me to realize he is speaking.

"You damn fox. Thinking you could force yourself onto such a treasure. You make me sick." His shoe digs into my ribs once more causing more blood to escape from my stomach wounds and my mouth. Unable to help myself, a yell of pain escapes me.

However, a frightened female voice cuts through the air causing the jailer to pause in his stomping. "Neichi-kun! Stop it!"

He puts his foot down by my face and through my fading vision, I see him turn. "Why are you protecting this fox?"

"Because it's my job. You can beat him up all you want after I have healed him and he can put up a half-way decent fight!"

As my mind slowly recovers from the pain, the room starts to come back into focus, and I see Neichi grab her by the shoulders. She winches, and I try to force energy into my broken body. Even after what I did, Tsukino still wants to help me, and I'm not about to let some pushy cat demon harm her.

The enraged cat demon does not notice my attempts to move as he glares at Tsukino. "He attacked you, didn't he? When you first showed up, his scent was all over you!"

She glares back just as coldly. "Even **if** he did do something, he's still injured, and I'm still a healer!"

"Rose can heal him then. We are going back to your room before you get attacked again. Rose, keep an eye on things," he says as he releases Tsukino's shoulder and grabs her arm. He quickly lets go through as my punch sends him flying into the far wall. Falling to the floor, he glares at me in unrivalled hate.

"You wanna go fox-boy? Let's go then," he mutters before wiping the blood from his slit lip away from his mouth.

Barely able to stand and quickly losing strength, I say nothing and wait for his attack.

Within seconds he comes charging at me. I move to block his punch, but the pain from my wounds has made me slow. His fist collides with the hole in my abdomen. Unable to keep my balance or stand any longer, I collapse to the floor and try to ignore the guilt that wells up in me when I hear Tsukino's gasp and Kioshi yelling at me to stop being an idiot.

Painfully and determined, I struggle to my feet. Neichi runs towards me once more, only this time I manage to block his punch and give him one of my own. Though I am used to letting my plants fight for me, my demon form increases my strength so my punch is not usually something one would take lightly. Neichi hits the floor again and gets up with a crazed look in his eye. At this moment, I realize I can take no more and prepare myself for the final blow that could possible end my life if he hits my ribs again. I can feel one of my lungs being poked by one of my ribs, but another punch and it will be punctured beyond healing ability.

Slowly, Neichi rises to his feet as if he knows this attack could end my life and wants to savour it. Leaning forward he extends his claws, and I brace my feet, wanting to get one last punch in. He starts running, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Rose hitting Kioshi over the head knocking him conscious. I'm not sure what has caused me to believe I must put my life on the life over a simple thing such as Tsukino, but I cannot back down now. Hopefully in the afterlife, I'll have lots of time to think about it.

Suddenly, Neichi is kicked from the side and finds himself crashing into a wall. Almost instantly, The Fox's Rose appears at his side and starts slapping his face. "You moron! Do you know what you almost did?" she demands, but I'm barely paying attention for my knees have just collapsed beneath me, and the floor is rushing up to met me while the room starts to fade to black.

* * *

There was no reason for them to fight like that, but neither one was willing to back down. I always thought that Kurama was the wisest out of the four spirit detectives, but it appeared he was trying to prove me wrong. Even he must have known that if there was ever a time to admit defeat then was the time. He was clearly at a disadvantage with his wounds catching up with him. If Rose hadn't knocked some sense into Neichi, Kurama probably would have died from either blood loss or his broken ribs rupturing something.

As he started to collapse, I ran over and caught him. Unfortunately, though weakened, he was still heavy and I was forced to ease him to the floor. His partner, who I assumed to be Kioshi, was also starting to wake and fearing another fight, I shouted at him to help me. After hesitating for a second to look around, the tall bat came over and helped me lay Kurama down. His head lied on my lap so I could monitor his breathing and keep his head elevated. Without me asking, the bat started to set Kurama's broken bones as if it happened often. Once he was done, he backed off but stood between the growling Neichi and Kurama, ready to defend against another charge.

By that time, Kurama's breathing was laboured, and I feared for his life. Though he hadn't been the nicest to me on that trip, the others in Human World would have most likely been heartbroken if he died. Because of that, I summoned all the energy I had and started to let it flow into his body hoping it would work. The last time I tried to heal any one in such bad shape both of them had died, and I couldn't let that happen to Kurama.

Slowly the effects of my energy became apparent on both Kurama and I. While his wounds were starting to heal and he returned to consciousness, I started sway side to side trying not to fall asleep. Thankfully, the pain in my arms and my chest were doing a brilliant job of keeping me awake.

After almost an hour, all his life-threatening wounds were healed, and I was just started on the minor ones when he opened his eyes. For a second, he appeared confused but also comfortable before he vanished from my lap. I wasn't sure exactly what happened, but suddenly he was sitting in front of me and then his lips were on mine. The pain that had been spreading through my body suddenly seemed to disappear as my curse took over and blocked everything from my mind but the fox demon in front of me.

I was just about to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back when I was suddenly pulled away from him. With nothing to feed my curse, the effects vanished, and reality came rushing back. Pain and shock merged and I could only watch as Neichi punched Kurama causing him to fly into the wall of the cage.

"You touch my girl ever again, and I swear I'll make you wish I killed you!" Neichi shouted at the fox who seemed unharmed by the punch.

From his place at the wall, Kurama wiped the dried blood from his mouth and smirked. "Well you weren't the one who got to her first now were you?"

Knowing that Kurama was only provoking Neichi to help his ego by beating him to a pulp and unable to take the violence anymore, I ran. Nothing had chanced from when we split ways, and that sight was a painful reminder. When I first saw him, I wasn't thinking about the fight we had so my feelings were completely unguarded when he kissed me. At the time, I felt ashamed by how happy I had been because of the kiss. For the moment, I felt like I was back in Human World and almost able to enjoy a normal relationship with him before I realized he only wanted pleasure. However, the harsh reality came crashing back when he started to provoke Neichi, and I felt ashamed by how I had let him use me to get to my friend.

Finally, I made it to my room and ran in, not bothering to lock the door and no longer caring about who overheard my muttered questions as the physical and mental pain started to rip me apart.

* * *

Neichi ran off seconds after Tsukino did, but The Fox's Rose did not leave until the new guard came after almost an hour of staring at me as I removed the dried blood from my slightly healed skin. As soon as she left, it felt like the cage had become less tense. However, it is not until now, two hours later, that either Kioshi or I make a sound.

"You didn't actually… you know… with her, did you?"

Without turning to face him and studying the sleeping guard, I reply, "No."

"Then why say that you did? Are you jealous or something that your batty-cat and he are getting on so well?"

Ignoring the questions, I notice that the guard has no keys on him and therefore no way to release us. Withholding a sigh, I lay my back against the wall and try to forget the last few hours. I had known that Tsukino had not listened to me when I warned her not to use her energy, but the fact that she had wasted her energy on me after what I had done is making me feel nauseous and anxious. For the life of me, I can not figure out why she had reacted like that. Part of my anxiety is caused by the fact that I can not blame her curse for her reaction, so I have to face other possibilities that I had been sure were false such as her having actual feelings for me. Thankfully, I am unable to dwell on those thoughts for very long because Kioshi has started to talk non-stop since I did not answer his last two questions.

"-And you look like a girl." He pauses for a second. "I wonder if they are sleeping together yet."

Unaccustomed to feeling anger in my demon form, I turn tell him that Tsukino is not that type of girl when the words die in my throat at the sight of my cellmate. Sometime between the start of his torture and Rose healing him, the black mask that had covered his face had been removed and his hat had fallen off revealing long black hair, long pointed ears (similar to Jin's when excited), and annoyed purple eyes.

Anger disappears and calmly I ask, "If your name isn't Kioshi, what is it?"

He frowns but his eyes also widen in confusion and amusement from my supposedly random question. "Where the heck did that come from?"

"What is your real name?"

"I thought you said telling someone your real name was stupid."

Realizing that asking him directly was not going to work, I ask, "Who was your father?"

"My dad is alive thanks."

"What is his name?"

Rolling his eyes, he replies, "Hajime."

Instantly, I realize that I don't know the name of my old partner's father, and my mind is unable to think straight due to the sedating fog in the cage.

Kioshi does not seem affected though as he asks, "So who was your dad?"

Deciding to humour him, I reply, "A simple nameless fox."

He frowns. "You mean you weren't born a fox demon?"

I shake my head and try to think of another way to learn the true identity of the bat in front of me.

"Then what are you?"

Knowing that telling him exactly what I am would not only be complicated but also revealing, I explain what I used to be. "A spirit of a Human World fox who entered Demon World and eventually gained demon hood."

"A Spirit Fox?"

I nod and wait for him to say something else. He does not disappoint.

"Ah. Sorry about mistaking you for someone else. I just thought that you were the kid of a friend of mine." He leaned again the wall of the cage and placed his hands behind his head. "I hoped he and my sister would have gotten together already since I haven't seen them in over two thousand years. I guess I should I realized that when you told me your age." He glanced at me sidelong. "Unless you aren't really 3000 years old."

"It's complicated." I reply carefully as I mentally debate whether to expose myself as Kurama to this possible stranger or to remain quiet.

Kioshi laughs. "Let me guess. You died and then posses another person's body without actually going to Spirit World and technically dying."

My mouth replies before my brain can think. "You seem to know a lot about me, Kuronue."

For a second, he sits completely rigid before he glares at me and hisses, "How the hell do you know me?"

Smirking slightly, I calmly stretch as I once did as a spirit fox and reply, "I believe I told you years ago to leave the heartless threatening to me. When you try, you end up sounding like a snake. It's rather hard to understand you then."

I can almost see the confusion turn into reorganization and then into shock as his mouth hangs open and his eyes widen. "No way. No fricking way. Kurama?"

Calmly, I nod.

"What the hell are you doing in Demon World! I thought you were living as a human now!"

Casting a glance at the guard, I mutter, "Be quiet before you wake the guard. And first explain why you are still alive."

My old partner glares at me once again. "I asked first."

"But I am still stronger than you."

Kuronue is silent for a moment before he obeys. "It was a trap made by Enma. His men caught me in the bamboo and dragged me back to the castle before they locked me up. Apparently he needed a thief to work for him. The mirror was just bait."

I nod. "So he brainwashed you?"

He nods and a bit of pride enters his eyes. "You don't honestly think that Enma could have gotten all those demon treasures without help."

"How did you throw off the mind control?"

He shrugs. "No idea. Just one day about a year ago I suddenly felt like I had woken up from a bad dream and found myself in the middle of Demon World. I tried to find you and Mikiku, but both of you had disappeared. Then I heard all about the tournaments and how you went ahead and got shot and then joined the human side. Nice way to turn coat by the way. Makes you very easy to find."

I shake my head in dismissal. "Did you find anything about Mikiku?"

Kuronue shakes his head. "Nothing. Apparently she left the bar, and everyone I asked had no idea who I was talking about. Then this Fox's Rose chick showed up saying that she was Mikiku, but when she ran into me, she acted all wrong, and your batty-cat sounds more like Mikiku than that poser does. Speaking of batty-cats, what are you doing here travelling with one? You aren't cheating on Mikiku are you, because even though you sorta died, the bet still is in effect."

I frowning, I push the unwanted reminder of my past into the back of my mind before explaining how I came to be in Demon World. "As you no doubt already guess, Tama-chan and I are on a mission from Koenma to capture The Fox's Rose."

"Why?"

"She stole the broken Forlorn Hope from the Spirit World Vault."

Kuronue frowns. "Broken, when did it get broken? If it was some weak demon, I'll kill you because I'll have you know I almost died four times while stealing that."

"It's not important."

"Oh so my life isn't important anymore. I guess I'll just go jump off a cliff then." The small smile on his face is the only hint that he is joking.

Despite the situation, I cannot help but chuckle. "And I suppose you would just fly to the other side as well."

He rolls his eyes and says, "Ha ha. Very funny Kurama so what's been happening with you? Does Mikiku know that you are alive and why no pups yet?"

If I was in my human form, I would most likely be feeling quite guilty. Thankfully I am still in my demon form and slightly immune to the effects of guilt. "Remind me later that I owe you a life-time of drinks."

Kuronue's eyes widen. "What? You mean you two aren't together yet?"

"We never were Kuronue. It was just a bet."

"But there was some feelings right?"

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not."

"But-"

"All of it an act."

"So it couldn't have become real?"

I can almost feel my human conscience squirming. "I doubt it."

"Why not?"

"Foxes aren't like bats. We're more solitary creatures-"

Kuronue's face turns red in anger. "What does that have to do with it?"

I look him straight in the eyes and slowly ask, "How can you do something you have never known how to do?"

"You have got to be kidding me!"

I shrug. "It was just too soon, Kuronue. Perhaps if we had the bet now, things could have ended differently."

Now Kuronue's eyes were also giving off the red glow of anger. "I thought you were better than that. So you're telling me you were just in it for the bet? Why didn't you tell me!"

I nod, no longer caring about the guard or the other prisoners as there are none at this time. "Both of ours were and because it was a bet in which pride was wagered."

"You are sick."

I frown. "If I recall correctly, I was the one forced into a corner and who tried to make the best of it."

"I can't believe you did that! So you just changed her to match your needs?"

Ignoring his question, I reply, "'Did' is the key word. Though I cannot change the past during my time in Human World I have managed to overcome some flaws in personality."

Kuronue rolls his eyes again. "Oh and I suppose that batty-cat is your next attempt. Maybe it's a good thing you died before anything happened. At least wherever Mikiku is she doesn't have to worry about you trying to change her." With those final words, he turns his back on me and glares at the wall.

For a moment, I say nothing as I inwardly flinch at Kuronue's bluntness. However, once I have thought over the possibilities, I nod. "Yes, perhaps it was a good thing," I reply and the cage becomes silent.

* * *

Sometime between remembering my time in Human World and trying to figure out why I always fell for the men that hated me or tried to use me, Neyuki found me in my room. She took one look at my sorry state and instantly demanded information. I told her as much as I could, leaving out the fact that I was on a mission with Kurama, and made it seem like I had met the fox, fell for him, left him, and ran into Neyou, who also later left. She knew that I was leaving information out but thankfully did not question me like Botan or Keiko would have.

Once the 'whole' story was out on the floor Neyuki asked what Rose wanted with me. Word that we were planning something had gotten around the base, and the fact that both of us were half bat had the leaders suspicious. To put Neyuki's worries to rest, I explained about Kurama's and Rose's supposed relationship from the little I knew. When Neyuki nodded and asked what that had to do with me, I hesitated, unsure how to explain why Rose and I were working together without telling Neyuki about the mission. In the end, I managed to say that Rose wanted revenge and I wanted away from Kurama so we were planning a bit of payback and told her about the plan.

Her face became red with anger and disgust, and she insisted to know whether I was going to go along with the plan.

It was around this time that Neichi appeared in my doorway looking relieved beyond words. "Tama-chan!" he shouted before wrapping his arms around me in a loving hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away. I didn't mean to scare you. Just the thought of that fox- I'm sorry!"

Over his shoulder, Neyuki stared at us in complete confusion before a small grin appeared on her face. "I'll leave you two alone and Tama-chan, maybe you should ditch the plan and just move on." She stared pointedly at Neichi before waving and disappearing out the door leaving us alone.

Unsure of what to do for the slightly hysterical cat demon, I hugged him back and explained that I wasn't upset with him. I was just knocked off balance by seeing 'that fox'.

For moments after that we were silent and thinking as we held each other. I had barely known him a month but I still couldn't picture Neichi and myself as a couple. Sure he was nice, caring, understanding, and loving but it didn't feel right. My curse never reacted to him and that made me worry since it reacted so strongly to Kurama. But Neyuki had a point when she said that I should move on. Maybe the reason my curse wasn't acting up was because it didn't need to act up. Maybe (as corny as it sounded) the curse only affected me when males I wasn't supposed to be with were around. I didn't know for sure so I didn't act on my suspicions and just let myself be in Neichi's arms and tried not to think about the last time someone had held me this close after falling into the lake at Genkai's.

Finally, he released me and apologized once again, to which I explained that everything was fine now, though things were far from that. Rose was still waiting for an answer, Kurama and his partner were in grave danger, and the mission was falling apart. But as far as Neichi was concerned, things were just fine and would stay that way if I could help it. Too many people had suffered because of me, and I wasn't about to add another person to that list.

* * *

The cage in which Kuronue and I dwell remained silence for almost an hour until Kuronue's boredom and inability to sleep got the best of him.

"So if there isn't anything between you and that batty-cat, why did you kiss her mid-way through her healing you?"

Slightly annoyed about being pulled away from my forming plans of escape, I reply without looking at him. "Do you remember why we never wanted Mikiku to use her demon energy?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him nod. "Yeah, something about how her energy wouldn't be able to adapt to her body and would kill her eventually." The confused frown on his face quickly turns into widened eyes of understanding as he looks over at the door where hours before Tsukino had disappeared. "So she's having the same problem."

I nod. "I would have stopped her sooner, but I was unable to move at the time and attacking her physically would only have worsened the problem so I didn't have any options left."

"Does she know about the whole killer energy thing?"

I shake my head. "I warned her not to use her energy but did not explain fully. It is obvious that she did not listen to me though."

Kuronue shrugs. "Can you blame her? Who knows what that Fox's Rose has told her. She probably thinks that you're only interested in a one-night stand." He pauses to listen to something down the hallway. "So what are you interested in with her anyways?"

"I believe you already said that there was nothing between us."

"So there really is nothing?"

"There is nothing."

"Then why don't you sound so sure?"

I do not reply because I do not have an answer. Bluffing will not work with Kuronue; he knows me too well and would twist it to his advantage. So I remain silent and, to my own dismay, ponder his question. When Kuronue and I left what I assume to be her apartment, I was sure it was just lust but now after willing wagering my life against the demon who marked her, I am forced to review things.

We are silent for minutes before Kuronue speaks once more. His wings sagging behind him. "Kurama? I'm sorry about the whole Mikiku thing. I really acted out of line."

"No more than Yomi," I mutter before nodding in acknowledgement of his apology.

A small frown appears on his face as his eyes narrow in annoyance. "Speaking of Yomi, how could you replace me with someone so stupid? I mean not even I was stupid enough to storm the castle of Raizen."

Knowing that a rant is starting, I brace myself and a small smile appears on my face. Though I have no idea how we will escape and how long we have to live, one thing is certain, though I am no longer fully a demon or a thief, some things never change.

* * *

**A/N: Nice long chapter for you and before you all spaz at me for the torture of Kurama I didn't make him cry to make him seem weak. I was merely emphasising the fact that the torture was THAT bad since not once (as far as I recall) does Kurama cry from pain in the series. He may yell from the pain (see fight with Karasu) but he doesn't cry. Thus you can see how bad the pain was. And do not ask me where that bit with Kurama in such pain came from. I don't know. I'm not usually a violent person and I wasn't listening to killing music nor was I mad. So if anyone knows what brought that evilness on, let me know.**

**So anyways, again this is a nice long chapter for you and I hope you enjoyed it slightly. At least Kuronue. I mean, you had to enjoy Kuronue yelling at him right?**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing and please keep reading. See ya.**

**-D101**


	16. See that Rock

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot. I don't even know how to play Uno._

* * *

Recap: Kurama and Kioshi experienced true torture. Then Kurama got into a fight with Neichi, sorta got healed by Tsukino before kissing her, and then provoked another fight with Neichi that caused Tsukino to run for her room. Oh and Kioshi is actually Kurama's supposedly long dead partner Kuronue, and Rose wants Tsukino to seduce and then attack Kurama. Did I miss anything?

* * *

**This Is How You Remind Me  
****Chapter Sixteen  
****Escape from the Base Part 1**

Day Hundred-Twelve

The day had barely started, and I already can feel my optimism fading. My torturer seemed to be enjoying himself much more today as he tried every last method he had to try to make me speak. Once my journal almost fell out of the grasp of the vine the held it secure and out of view under my shirt. It was only by pretending to wince and turn away from the pain that I was able to keep its existence a secret. If the cats found my journal they would have a field day wondering why one of the spirit detectives had concerned himself with the war.

Thankfully, the journal and my identity remained unknown, and hours later I was finally brought back to the cage where an equally wounded Kuronue was waiting. Too exhausted and weak to speak, we silently sit on the ground and waited for a healer.

Now that the healer has finally arrived it is only The Fox's Rose, which causes me to wonder what had happened to Tsukino. Had she been ordered to take care of a worse case or was she avoiding the prison because of my actions yesterday?

Before I can come to any conclusions, The Fox's Rose quickly enters the cage. She quickly heals Kuronue and causes him to fall unconscious before turning her attention to me. With a smirk that seems familiar to me, and a gleam in her eyes that makes them look black and causes all the warning bells go off in my head, she slowly walks over to me. Despite my wounded state, I try to move away from her and towards a corner of the cage so that I can use the walls to support and defend myself should she attempt to assault me again.

Unfortunately, my wounds cry out in protest causing me to halt my efforts and glare at her, warning her to keep away from me.

To my displeasure, the glare has no effect and within seconds she has closed in on me. Bowing down in front of me, she coyly blinks with what is supposed to be a seducing smile on her face. However, I quickly avert my eyes to avoid looking down her low-cut shirt, and her strong scent of copper mixed with wild roses makes me want to retch.

I can see her grin widen as she bows farther now and says, "Come on fox-boy. Don't I get a kiss too? Or do you only do after mated girls now?"

Without waiting for an answer, she places her hands on my chest and her energy starts to flow through me. Unlike Tsukino whose healing gave me energy, The Fox's Rose seems to be stealing it. Within seconds, I'm barely able to stay awake, but within the last moments of my healing, when The Fox's Rose attempts to kiss me again, I manage to duck and fall onto my stomach effectively ruining her plan. Now knowing that I have managed to at least best The Fox's Rose once, I feel my optimism returning. Perhaps we will be able to complete this mission soon and without problems, but for now I will rest.

* * *

New Plan

It was hard to act like nothing had happened the next day. Sure Neichi didn't act any different other than muttering darkly about Kurama when he thought I wasn't paying attention (which seemed slightly out of character for him, as if he was an actor playing a role and guessing how his character would act), but I found it hard to act like the happy and caring healer that I usually was. My visit to the jail had destroyed all my thoughts about how merciful the cats were in battle. Rose had given me the impression that the cats didn't take prisoners or kill the enemy while they retreated but the trip the jail obviously proved that false. Now knowing the darkness that leaked through the army it was hard to keep up the caring healer act when my thoughts were elsewhere.

Thankfully, my thoughts never strayed from healing while I was being a healer, but in the few moments I had to myself, such as walking down the hallways, my thoughts quickly turned Kurama and mission instead of thinking about my duties. Most of my thoughts were filled with guilt because I was well and he was being tortured, but some of my thoughts were of regret because I hadn't listened to him and indirectly caused the situation. However, something usually managed to distract me from my thoughts before I was able to dwell on them too long but the one time I was able to dwell I realized something important.

I was walking down to the Food Branch for dinner that I was probably just going to throw up later when my thoughts turned from wondering if Neyuki and Neini were there to thoughts about the jail. Even though I had only seen the jail once and didn't have to go back there again, I could picture it clearly as well as the beating Neichi had given Kurama.

If I had just obeyed him and joined the dogs with him then maybe he wouldn't be in such bad shape, I told myself. However, I also reasoned that if I had joined the dogs I wouldn't have been able to talk with Rose and warn her about her paying for my mistakes. On the other hand, Rose's plan was probably the worst one we could come up with. It was far from fool-proof due to my curse, and the fact that Kurama was locked in jail and wouldn't be able to escape after the plan was completed.

I paused in my steps as a worrying thought hit me.

Or was that part of Rose's plan? I wondered. Did she really want revenge for Kurama breaking her heart or was there something else going on?

I shook my head and continued walking. Regardless of Rose's reasons for her plan, I wasn't going to let her go to Spirit World Jail for my mistakes. But I couldn't let Kurama die either. With a sigh of self-pity caused by the headache I had given myself, I decided I would have to either come up with a new plan and convince Rose to play along, or play along with hers and then help Kurama and his ally escape.

However, I was running out of time. Since Rose had seen Kurama's reaction to me, she was going to be hounding me to agree outright to the plan. If that I did that, I would only have hours to think of a way to help the guys escape. But that was if I agreed to the plan. If I didn't agree, I maybe would have a little more time since Rose seemed dead set on having me take part in the plan. I reasoned that from what I knew of Rose's character she would try to convince me to do the plan anyways. That would give me a little more time seeing as how the cats weren't ready to kill Kurama or his ally yet. But even if I disagreed, it would probably only give me a day at most.

I sighed again and wondered what I was going to do.

Before I could come up with an answer, Neyuki and Neini spotted me in the halls and walked over. We talked for a bit before we started to walk down to the Food Branch. Neyuki and Neini had already eaten but agreed to sit and talk with me. We were almost there when someone walked onto the branch from the jail and bumped into Neini. Neyuki and I didn't notice at first and only paused when we noticed the kitten wasn't following. We looked back to see her standing in front of a person and realized that she had bumped into someone. For a moment, we stood there waiting for her to apologize and catch up. When Neini still hadn't moved we moved our gaze to the person she had bumped into and saw it was Rose. However, if I hadn't known that there were no other kitty-bats but Rose and I in the cat army I would have mistaken her for another demon. Her eyes had turned black with rage, and she was snarling down at poor Neini instead of hissing or screeching as I'd seen other bat and cats demons do.

Neyuki, never one to be intimidated, walked up to her younger sister and with a hand on the kitten's shoulder, apologized for the accidental bump.

Rose stared at her for a moment before noticing me. At once her furious expression vanished behind a smiling mask that did little to erase the memory of her rage just seconds earlier. She virtually bounced over to me, took my hands, and all but ordered me to do the plan tonight while giving me another rundown of the plan, which still had no hint of a way for the guys to escape.

For a second, I was shocked into silence by her mood swing as well as her lack of concern about being overheard. Quickly I recalled my thoughts before running into Neyuki and Neini and I realized what was probably the best course of action, as long as she didn't kill me right there. Even if she was smiling, her eyes were literally still black with rage.

I was about to reply when Neini quietly said, "I thought you didn't want to hurt anyone."

I turned to look over at them and saw Neyuki glaring daggers at Rose while Neini hid behind her sister and looked like she was going to cry as if she had just been betrayed. Even though she had kitten ears and was a full demon, I was strongly reminded of Rei, Keiko and Yusuke's daughter, when I had left to go to the jail. After making a mental note to thank Neini for strengthening my resolve, I moved so that I blocked her view in case Rose did attack me and cause blood to flow. "I don't and I won't," I replied to Neini before turning my attention to Rose. "Rose there has to be a better plan than this. We still have time to think of something new since the generals won't be kil- removing them right away."

For a moment, the rage disappeared from her eyes though they remained black and stared at me in surprise. However, the moment passed and the surprise turned into a smug look that caused me to wonder what I had done. With an amused smirk on her face as if I had fallen into some sort of trap, she nodded and turned to leave. "That's okay," she said. "I think my backup plan will work better anyways. Don't worry about your part in the plan; I'll make sure you get the credit you want. Shame you won't be able to enjoy the moment as much as I'm sure **he** will." She was about to leave the branch and my sight when she paused and turned to see my reaction to her next sentence. "By the way, your wannabe lover is **full **of energy," she grinned showing fangs, "but then again, I guess **you** already knew that."

I closed my eyes to block the hurtful image that appeared in my mind and then opened them to see Rose grin widely and triumphantly before she disappeared around the corner. By the satisfied look on her face, I knew that my reaction was what she wanted to see. I wasn't sure what she was going to do but it was obvious that I should have listened to Kurama when he warned me while we were back in Spirit World about not trusting Rose. She probably had been messing with my head this whole time, and Kurama had been paying for it. Annoyed and angry with myself, I tried to think of something to do. Rose obviously had a plan and was going to act on it but I couldn't be sure what the plan was or when it would happen. That meant I that I had to get down to the jail ASAP and warn Kurama, but I had been banned from the jail so I wouldn't be able to get in.

Suddenly remembering that Neyuki and Neini were also in the hallway, I turned around to see them still standing there staring at me in confusion. Quickly, Neyuki's look of confusion turned to one of determination. She opened her mouth to demand an explanation, but by that time I was already running towards the jail branch opening. "I swear I'll explain later!" I yelled over my shoulder as I disappeared down the hallway.

I knew that Neyuki would not rest until she had the answered she wanted, like why I wanted credit for Rose's actions, but I was sure that after I warned Kurama and his partner that I would have thought up something to tell Neyuki without giving away the fact that Kurama was Kurama. In fact as I walked down the hallway, I silently tried to think of something to tell her as well as how to explain to Kurama why I had joined forces with Rose and then separated. The best way would be to explain to him the real reason why I had acted the way I did, but I had the nagging doubt that he wouldn't believe me. Once again the fact that he looked and acted slightly different caused me to subconsciously separate the fact that he was still the same Kurama regardless of human or demon blood from my mind.

Shortly, I found myself in front of the door to the jail and paused. It was quiet inside, which would make it all the harder to sneak in. Even the smallest noise, such as entering the jail would draw the action of the guards. For a moment, I paused and stared at the door, trying to think of a way in when I heard a noise from behind me. I darted into the shadows and watched as a cat dressed in armour walked towards the door. As she entered the jail, I quickly darted in after her before hiding in the shadows so that I wasn't spotted.

At once I noticed that all the cages that were filled yesterday were now empty and their walls dented as if a battle had taken place inside of them. In some blood even coated the floor. Worried about Kurama and his partner, I quickly followed the single guard down the hallway. Since there were no other guards to worry about, I only thought about walking behind her and timing my steps so that I took a step at the same time as her so that she didn't get suspicious. Just in case, I also cloaked my energy. (Thank you Yusuke and Kuwabara.)

Within minutes, we arrived at Kurama's cage, and I had to duck behind an empty cage and listen as the guards chatted to themselves.

"I'll be glad when the cages are all empty. Then I won't have to come here until the cages are filled again," the guard I had followed said.

Her fellow guard nodded and looked towards the cage behind him. "I hear ya, but look on the bright side. These are the last two and tomorrow if they don't give us the information we want, we'll just kill them. Secretly I hope they keep quiet. This place is creepy enough as it is without the bat making stupid noises." He stood up from his seat and stretched. "Well I'll leave them to you. Try not to kill them before tomorrow."

She nodded but also raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were out for the night."

He grimaced before turning and walking back the way we had come causing me to duck behind the cages again. "If only," he said over his shoulder as he walked out. "Night."

The female guard rolled her eyes and sat down where the other guard had been sitting before replying.

Briefly the jail filled with light as the other guard opened the door and quickly became dim again as the door closed behind him. Once I was sure that no one else was going to enter or leave the jail, I turned my attention back to the cage and the guard. If I was going to warn Kurama and his partner, I would have to get past the guard. To do that I would have to knock her out or wait for her to fall asleep, however the chances of that happening were slim. Even thought it was just after dinner, most cat demons wouldn't be ready to fall asleep for many more hours. I was considering trying to use an experimental attack Yusuke, Kuwabara and I had been working on called the Sonic Screech to knock her out but before I could make a sound something started making high-pitched squeaking noises.

While I covered my ears in pain, the guard turned her attention to the cage behind her and threw the stone she suddenly had in her hand inside. It flew for a moment before a small 'thunk' was heard and the noises stopped.

"Shut up bat," the guard barked as she reached down to grab another stone.

From inside the cage, I saw a shadow rub its head. "If I do that I would bored. Do you really want me to be bored?" a male voice asked with a slight whine in his voice.

"If it keeps you quiet then yes."

"Actually when I'm bored I tend to get more annoying. Right Katsu-kun?" He paused and the only thing heard in the jail was someone muttering, "Knock out the guard."

Suddenly a rock flew out of the cage and hit the guard in the temple. She hit the ground, and I was barely able to keep myself in my hiding place. My training as a healer demanded that I rush over and check on the guard but my common sense told me to keep hidden. In the dark it would be too easy to be taken as an enemy and attacked. My conscience hated me for it, but I was able to ease it slightly by seeing that she was still breathing normally and not bleeding as well as telling myself that there couldn't be any evidence of my being in the jail.

The jail was silent for a whole five seconds before a groan came from the cage. "Damn it Kurama! I thought you were awake!" The shout quickly quieted to muttering. "Great I just knocked out my only source of entertainment. Should have known that he would still plan aloud in his sleep."

I couldn't help but laugh quietly at the prisoner's annoyance. After travelling with Kurama for a few months, I was well aware of his odd tendency to plan his next move aloud while asleep.

Unfortunately, my small laughs caught the demon's attention before I was ready to face him. In the dim, I saw him turn his head towards me and narrow his eyes.

"I know you're here so why don't you just show yourself," he said, his playful and almost childish tone turning to one that rivalled Kurama's for calm and coldness.

After taking a moment, I stepped out from behind the cage and walked towards his cage. I paused just outside the door and waited for him to move. He stood and walked over to the door so that I could see him as well. He was just as tall as Kurama, with black hair similar to Kurama's disguise, and sharp purple eyes. His eyes narrowed as he studied me before he nodded, and his eyes widened a bit. "You were that healer from yesterday. The one who was the cause of that fight between Kurama and that cat."

I gave him a weak smile. Being known as a cause of a fight was not really the way I wanted to be known so I introduced myself as Tama before asking for his name.

He was silent for a moment before replying, "Kuronue."

I nodded and tried to think of my next move. Kuronue had seemed far more easygoing when he was annoying the guard, but now he seemed completely businesslike.

"I'm surprised that the cats allowed you back down here after what Kurama did," he thought aloud after a moment.

I nodded and suddenly remembered my reason for returning to the jail. "They don't actually know that I'm down here, but I had to come and warn you guys."

"Warn us?"

I nodded. "It's about the Fox's Rose. She has this plan to do something to Kurama-san."

"What sort of 'something'?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I'm not really sure but she'll probably do it tonight or early tomorrow because the guards-"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's all they can talk about down here. Hopefully fox-boy will have a plan by then. Though it'd be a lot easier with these collars off."

"Collars?"

He pointed to the strap of black material around his neck. "Somehow it's blocking our ability to use our demon energy."

I frowned. "Did you try just trying to break it?"

He rolled his eyes but nodded. "Tried everything but pick-locking it. When they threw us in here they took our bags from us and searched us taking everything, including my lock-pick so I couldn't really try."

I nodded and recalled seeing two cats walking down the hallway a little while before with some bags one that I had thought I had mistaken for Kurama's. However, I had no idea where the bags were now. "I could try to get you one."

He frowned and stared at me as if he was trying to figure out if I was lying or not. "Why would you do that and why did you even bother to come down to warn us? I thought you and The Fox's Rose were buddies."

"What's the worst thing that could happen if I'm lying?"

He frowned and was about to reply when he stopped and considered my question. "Good point but last I recall, you were yelling at him," he pointed over at Kurama, "for wanting to join the dogs."

I blushed slightly in embarrassment at the realization that a slightly personal matter between Kurama and me had been overheard. "And if you recall, I'm not very big on the idea of letting people die over meaningless things such as a fight."

He nodded. "You still didn't answer my question though, and I bet you have some idea about what she's planning."

Knowing that the only way to get him to listen to me was to tell the truth, I explained the situation I had gotten myself into, leaving out some personal details, as well as told him what I could guess of her plan from her hints.

When I had finished, he was staring at me in what seemed to be amazement. I asked if he didn't believe me but he just shook his head and replied, "I'm just amazed by how blunt you are. Kurama gave me the impression that you were… well…"

"Naïve?"

"Ignorant."

I shook my head. "That's not really important right now is it?"

He nodded. "So basically The Fox's Rose is going to try to seduce him but make sure you are the one who gets into trouble in Spirit World so that she gets out of jail-free and you get into jail just like you wanted."

I nodded.

"Why do you want to go to jail?"

"Other people shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes."

"But aren't your friends in Human World going to pay anyways?"

I looked down at my shoes, realizing that I hadn't thought of that.

"And I'm guessing it didn't occur to you that Spirit World would send someone after her anyways."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide in confusion. "Why would they do that?"

Kuronue rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious (which it was). "Well they can't really let a thief break into Spirit World and tell everyone else how to, right?"

I wanted to kick myself. None of this had ever occurred to me. If it had I probably would have been a much better partner. Though it wouldn't have hurt Kurama to clue me in. Of course, he probably assumed that I already knew that. Jerk.

Suddenly light spilled into the jail from the doorway causing Kuronue to quickly cover his eyes. By the time I turned around, the door had shut again, and the jail had dimmed. Confused and slightly worried, I started to turn back to Kuronue to ask if he knew where his and Kurama's things were so that I could go and get their things when the guard suddenly jumped up and lunged at me.

"Traitor!" she hissed.

Thankfully, even though I had spent many months training as a healer, I had also been sparring with Neini and Neyuki. Side-stepping I managed to dodge and moved more into the darkness for an advantage. However, the guard followed me causing me to have to move farther and farther from the cage where Kuronue was and deeper into the jail. Every time I went to use my energy against her, she managed to lunge towards me, which caused me to have to block with my body instead of my energy.

Then the unforgettable happened. I tripped. The guard stood over me ready to stab into my flesh. Her eyes staring down into mine. The claws came downward towards me, and I prepared myself for impact. Suddenly, a rock flew out of nowhere and hit the guard on the forehead causing her to hit the ground, knocked out again.

For a second, I stood staring at the demon on the ground when I felt a wave of energy similar to a spray of water by the ocean hit me. I turned around and stretched my claws out ready to fight only to come face to face with a very familiar face.

"The next time you are dating a Spirit Detective, let me know?" Neyuki said with a grin on her face. "That way I can give you some decent advice."

A blush worked its way onto my face, and even though she was wrong, I couldn't help but ask with a smile on my face, "Spirit Detectives are different from other guys?"

She nodded. "More than you could even believe. Just ask Mukuro-sama. Now, are we going to help save your friends or not?"

My confusion knew no bounds.

It turned out that Neyuki was a lot more informed that I had thought. As we walked back to the cage carrying the unconscious guard between us, (we hoped that she would assume it was all a dream if we just put her back where she was) Neyuki confessed that she already had a fairly good idea of what was going on. It turned out that Mukuro, worried about her own lands that she protected, had sent a group of scouts (Neyuki and her close family) into the war to try to stop it.

When Kurama informed Hiei that we were joining the war (I don't know when he managed to do this), Hiei had told Mukuro who had told Neyuki to keep an eye out for us. When she saw only me, Neyuki didn't realize who I was until I told her the fake story about how I knew Kurama who she only knew as the fox, Katsu. After that, she just kept an eye on me so that if anyone found out who Kurama was, we could cover it up so that news and questions about Spirit World involvement in the war didn't happen and the war wouldn't turn into one between demons for Spirit World and demons against.

Soon, we returned to the cage and after introducing Neyuki to Kuronue and learning from Kuronue where the bags were, Neyuki and I left the jail.

As we crept around the base, I was strongly reminded of the 'missions' Botan, Keiko, and I went on in Human World. Only this time instead of harmless little trips away from the house without informing any of the men, Neyuki and I were going to do something that could easily get us killed. The knowledge made my stomach turn over in knots and caused me to question myself. It seemed that no matter what I did, I was always betraying or hurting someone. However, there was nothing I could do other than continue on the road I started. So, taking a deep breath, I followed Neyuki down the deserted hallways to the Red Branch. Besides, the mission had to come before indirectly killing random demons I didn't know.

Shortly, we arrived and I saw that unlike the Blue Branch, which kept its all natural colours, the Red Branch had been painted red and the doors each had numbers on them. As we looked down the hallway, we were grateful that we knew what number to look for, as there were far too many doors to check behind in one night. Quickly, we silently ran towards door number 35.

Once at the door, we crossed our fingers and reached for the doorknob. Thankfully, the door was unlocked. Unluckily though, the room was guarded. Inside the room a cat with fur over his face lay sleeping in his bed. Getting on our hands and knees, we crawled into the room and looked around for the bags and weapons Kuronue had described to us, careful not to wake the demon who lay sleeping.

It was no easy task and after half an hour we were still looking around, admittedly a little more recklessly after we saw that the demon was a deep sleeper. The walls were covered with weapons and the corners filled with bags. On one side of the room however, was a desk and as I crawled near it I saw that it was covered with blueprints. Remembering the collars, I looked for something similar to what I had seen on Kuronue. Eventually I found the blueprint copied many times and after taking a quick look over at the sleeping demon, I quickly folded one of the plans and put it in my pocket. As I was turning away from the desk, I bumped my wing on something on the desk. It fell off the desk and I quickly dove to catch it in case it was breakable. To my amazement, I hands felt plush, and I saw my stuffed toy from my home staring at me through the dark.

Before I could start to wonder how my toy came to be at the base, Neyuki crawled over to me and tugged on my sleeve, showing me that she had found what we were looking for. I nodded once and quickly followed her out the door and back towards the jail, not letting go of the toy. Feeling that food also might help the guys out, we made a pit-stop at the kitchen and grabbed some meat and a loaf of bread.

When we slipped back into the jail, we saw that the guard we had knocked out had vanished and had been replaced with another male guard who Kuronue had obviously knocked out. He grinned at us through the bars as a child would as they handed their parents their report card with three gold stars on it. "What took you so long?" he whined as we walked over.

Pulling out the food and passing him the bags through the bars, Neyuki replied, "We made a pit-stop."

If possible, Kuronue's grin seemed to widen as he quickly pulled out his weapon, cut the loaf in half before devouring it. "You guys are lifesavers," he said through a mouth full of meat. "I doubt even rats would eat the food they had been serving us here."

We nodded and I said, "We also found the blueprints for the collars."

To my amusement, both Kuronue and Neyuki were wearing faces filled with confusion complete with wide eyes. "We did?" Neyuki asked.

I nodded and handed them to Kuronue, who quickly read through them. He sighed. "Well looks like the lock-pick will be useless then. They can only be removed with energy from a cat in the army."

"What's the problem then? Tama-chan can remove it then."

Kuronue stared at Neyuki. "Why can't you do it?"

Her eyes narrowed but she also smiled as if she was used to people questioning her problem with using her energy. "Do you want the collar off or to explode?"

Kuronue seemed to gulp and quickly said, "Well it's not like we need them off right away. Kurama is still out like a light, and I'd rather not have to drag him out of here."

"Why don't you just wake him up?"

I smiled and turned to Neyuki. "Kurama-san is a very deep sleeper. A nuclear bomb probably wouldn't even wake him up."

"A what?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it," I replied before turning my view towards the sleeping fox. "I'm amazed he can afford to sleep so deeply considering how many people probably have tried to kill him."

Kuronue shrugged and opened his bag. "Don't ask me. All I know is that it makes him easier to prank." He frowned as he closed his bag again. "Damn, I knew I forgot something."

"What did you forget?" Neyuki asked while I said, "Do you want us to get it?"

He shook his head. "Markers. I must have left them back at the Den."

Neyuki and I traded a look as Kuronue muttered to himself as he pulled out a stack of cards. "Wanna play?" he asked when he finished shuffling them.

I frowned, completely confused. "Kuronue-san, what did you want markers for?"

He stared. "To draw on Kurama of course."

The room was silent, and in that silence we heard someone calling from the halls. Neyuki and I traded a look and Kuronue said, "Sounds like your boyfriend is looking for you."

I shook my head, slightly aware of the fact that I wasn't blushing. Probably another effect of the curse, I thought as I said, "He's not my boyfriend."

Before Kuronue could say anything else, Neyuki stood up and walked towards the door. "Don't worry about Neichi-kun, I'll cover for you." She looked pointedly at Kuronue. "When you leave, take her with you. The cats will correctly assume that she helped you if she stays."

Kuronue nodded and gave her a mock salute. "Roger that."

Neyuki quickly gave me a hug and said, "I'll mail you when I get the chance. Hiei-san probably knows where you all live so I'll just question him."

Before I could even nod or say anything else, she had disappeared out of the jail and out of the story. For a moment, we could hear Neichi and Neyuki talking before their voices faded as they walked away. Soon there was only silence that remained until Kurama muttered, "Knock out guards" again.

Kuronue rolled his eyes in the direction of Kurama and shouted, "You already said that so you can shut up any time now!" which caused me to start to laugh. Not noticing or caring about my laughter, Kuronue asked me, "Does Kurama honestly do this every night?"

I nodded and tried to stop laughing all the while slightly amazed by Kuronue's personality. He was nothing like the bats Rose had described. Instead of being manipulative and evil, Kuronue just seemed like any other guy. In fact, he strongly reminded me of Jin. Both Kuronue and Jin just had this aura around them that broadcasted good feelings when they wanted to. Kuronue even had his pointy ears. "I'm not really sure, but every night while we were travelling he did this."

"I pity you."

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "But how do you know that he's Kurama-san?"

"Simple, he told me." Disbelief must have been obvious on my face because Kuronue explained that they used to be thieving partners before Kurama 'died'. After explaining about how they met up again and such, he asked me, "So what about you? How did you end up with this jerk?"

Once again I found myself explaining my first meeting of Kurama as well as my adventures in Human World. Again, similar to Jin and the other demon boys he travelled with, Kuronue was surprisingly easy to talk to. When I had finished, Kuronue whistled which caused Kurama to stir in his sleep but not awaken.

"Wow and I thought Mikiku was having a rough time when I met her."

I nodded, my curiosity becoming active again. "Who exactly is Mikiku-san?"

Kuronue's eyes were wide before they narrowed to their normal size. "Kurama probably left you in the dark and The Fox's Rose told you some stuff so you want to know what's true now, right?"

I nodded again.

Kuronue shifted his seat a bit before randomly asking, "Where did you find Inumaru?"

I looked down at my hand and realized that I was still holding my stuffed toy. "I found him with the bags but how did my toy get here and how do you know his name?"

Kuronue's eyes widened. "Lucky guess?" His wide eyes were quickly replaced by a wide smirk as he said, "And maybe Kurama missed you?"

"So why take my stuffed toy and how did he even know it was mine?" I paused." And **how** did he even get it in the first place? It was in my home-" My eyes widened as I stared at Kuronue. "You guys went to my house," I said, barely able to believe it.

Kuronue waved his hands in front of him as if protecting himself. "Sorta. It was the only way we could track you down. Kurama had this watch thing that followed the energy path you left as you travelled to the cat base. Since you went to the house, we followed the trail there, and since it was too late to travel any farther we spent the night there."

I could only nod. For some reason, the thought of Kurama knowing just what kind of neighbourhood I was from made me very uncomfortable. If we both lived in medieval Human World, I would say that it was because he came from a completely different class of people than I did so the difference in class was making me vulnerable. However, we weren't living in that time so I reasoned it was just because Kurama knew where I came from and I had no idea where he was from. If that made any sense.

Kuronue brought me out of my musing by returning to our previous topic. "Mikiku was a batty-cat that I met when I was little, only a few months old. We kept in contact until she vanished one day. My dad said she probably just left because some demon attacked her so I started to travel, keeping an eye out for her. Along the way, I learned how to steal and ran into Kurama. Eventually, I learned that a batty-cat who looked like Mikiku worked at a bar so I went there for a drink just to be sure it was her. Once I was sure the batty-cat was actually Mikiku I started to return periodically. Kurama became curious about where I was going and joined me one night. He met Mikiku, and I came up with the idea of trying to get them together, since he never shown any interest in any other girls. For a while I was pretty sure he was gay, only he never shown any interest in the guys either."

I blinked. "I thought Kurama-san was a womanizer though."

Kuronue stared and then pointed at a rock. "See that rock? That rock is more a womanizer than Kurama was." He shook his head. "The guy was an iceblock about everything that wasn't stealing or annoying people. That's why I tried to hook him up with Mikiku. One to make sure that he wasn't gay, and two to make him live a little. Of course, the way that he seemed to try to be nice to her didn't help."

"What do you mean?"

Kuronue sighed and seemed to be glaring at the floor. "Well Mikiku didn't really have a name since no one raised her or cared for her, so when Kurama asked her for her name she just muttered something about not having one. Then Kurama said some crap about how she should have a name and he just decided to call her Mikiku. (No idea why he picked that but that's how she got her name.) She seemed really happy about it and Kurama seemed happy about making her happy so I thought I'd give match-making a shot. It apparently didn't end too well."

"What do you mean?"

Kuronue seemed to have said more than he wanted to because he just shook his head and said, "It's not important. Anyways, so they were dating and eventually Kurama asked for my permission to mate with her, since I was the closest thing to family Mikiku had. I said yes and they marked each other that night. Apparently, they never went any farther than that."

I nodded, remembering what he had said about how he had been placed under the late King Enma's control like I had been only hundreds of years before that.

Suddenly, Kuronue's sombre mood changed and he was grinning as he picked up his stack of cards again. "Do you know how to play _Twenty-one_?"

I was silent as I blinked stupidly for a second, completely taken off-guard by his change in emotions. He seemed to understand my feelings because he nodded. "Yeah, I do this often. Kurama said that if my attacks didn't confuse my enemies my chatter would."

I nodded as I took the cards he offered me. "I can understand why. At first I thought you were-"

He nodded as he looked over his cards. "First conversations always make me feel awkward since you never know whether the person you are talking to is going to stab you or not. Do you want another card?"

I stared at him. "Pardon?"

"Another card. Do you want another card?"

"Uh…Yes?"

He passed me another card and drew one himself. After a second, he said that he was done and asked me if I wanted another card. I shook my head and showed him my cards as he had done to me. He stared at my cards before looking my in the face and saying, "You have no idea how to play do you?"

I nodded, and he launched into an explanation of how to play _Twenty-One_. I won a few games of _Twenty-One_ after that as well as learned how to play _War_. Slowly though, I felt my energy leaving me as if I was slowly coming off a sugar high. After two hours of cards, I was barely able to keep my eyes open.

Half way though playing _Uno_, Kuronue suggested that I follow Kurama's example and rest. I was about to refuse when all my energy left me and I gave in. Unable to move from my spot in front of the cage, and without a thought to the knocked out guard, I curled up and fell into unconsciousness, somehow feeling safe even though only a locked door blocked me from best thieves in all three worlds.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was impossible to write but I tried to make it nice and long for you. Though I think it's more or less average length for me. I dunno.**

**Also, I have nothing against gays except for the fact that they ARE gay so don't take Kuronue's needing assurance of Kurama's preference personally if you are gay or a gay-supporter. It's just the way I picture Kuronue acting. (Also sorry if that note seems offensive.)**

**Other than that, thanks for reading and reviewing and waiting so patiently. (Though if I'm taking too long, yell at me. Like other humans, I can be lazy so yelling gets me back on track.) Hope to see you all at the next chapter when Rose makes her move and Kurama has to put up with Tsukino knowing a fair bit of his… less than pleasant past.**

**-D101**


	17. My Kills, Skills and Good Looks

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, the plot, and my corny recap._

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_Recap_: Tsukino finally breaks ties with Rose and comes slightly to terms with what she has to do with the help of Neyuki and Kuronue, who she has just met. Now the only thing left to do is to help Kurama and Kuronue escape from the cat base and capture The Fox's Rose. But can they do it before Tsukino reaches Stage Three? Find out in this exciting chapter of Yu Yu Hakusho (because yes, in my dreams, I do own the show, and it **is** based on reality).

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**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Seventeen  
****Escape from the Base Part 2**

Day Hundred-Thirteen

I awoke to the sounds of cards being shuffled and for a moment, was unable to remember where I was until the scents of sweat, blood, and mildew assaulted my senses reminding me that I was still in the jail. Now, as I slowly ease myself up into a sitting position, I find that all my muscles are sore from my awkward sleeping position, and out of the corner of my eye, I notice Kuronue by the door of the jail playing solitaire while our the guard is sprawled out on the floor just outside our door.

Kuronue also notices that I'm awake and grins as he looks away from his game. "Have a nice nap?" he asks.

I stretch a bit to loosen my sore muscles. "I'd have slept better if I wasn't sleeping on the floor. How long was I asleep for?"

"Long enough for your batty-cat and her friend to come in, get our things and the plans for the collars and some food, come back, have the friend leave to get rid of that cat demon who almost killed you, and still have enough time for Tama-san and me to play cards for two hours and then leave me to amuse myself for another one."

I frown. "What was her reason for coming down here?"

Kuronue shrugs, his unnerving grin still on his face. "Something about warning you about The Fox's Rose new plan to get rich, get powerful, and get you. Ya know the usual."

Feeling suddenly restless, I look around the jail. "Where is Tama-chan now?"

Kuronue's grin grows wider. "Oh, she's around."

My restless growing, half out of worry for Tsukino when The Fox's Rose learns of her perfidy, and half from worry of what reason Kuronue would have to grin like that; I study the area outside our cage once more. The first thing I notice is that our guard has yet to move from his slumped position on the ground.

"Why is our guard unconscious?"

His grin continues to grow as if he can barely control his amusement or excitement. "I was just following orders, though it would have been nice if you had told me the rest of the plan other than just 'knock out the guards'."

Since I had been told about my tendency to talk in my sleep, I reply, "Perhaps it was too much to hope that you could figure out the rest."

Kuronue shrugs once more. "Believe me if it weren't for the fact that you were so heavy and that Tama-san's self-appointed boyfriend was hanging around, we'd be long gone by now though I bet your nap wasn't as bad as you make it out to be."

I am about to question his reasons why he would say that when I felt something brush against my tail. A premonition of everlasting embarrassment and annoyance causes me to hope that Kuronue isn't grinning for the reason I think he is. Unfortunately, my premonition proves correct as I turn my attention beside me and Kuronue bursts into a fit of laughter. (Though what he is laughing at cannot be easily learned since my facial expression gives no hint of my surprise or any other feelings that race through me.) His noise is enough to cause Tsukino to stir and for a moment I am unsure whether she will awaken or not. Deciding not to risk giving Kuronue anymore pleasure at my expense, I quickly move to stand beside Kuronue with a silent promise to return the favour at a later date.

Half a second later Tsukino opens her eyes and studies the inside of out cage as she sits up. Her eyes are still wandering as she asks Kuronue, "Didn't I fall asleep outside the cage?" as if she is questioning her own recollections.

No longer laughing but still full of glee from his unfortunately successful prank, Kuronue nods and explains. "I figured that you'd feel better sleeping in a **warmer** position than on the cold floor out there** alone**," he says, clearly communicating that he was going to make the most out of the prank before the collars come off and I make him regret it.

Tsukino stares at Kuronue and realizing that she didn't believe him, he quickly adds, "And I thought it'd be safer for you to be in here with us so that if a guard came in we could hide you or something."

Foolishly, but understandably, Tsukino accepts this explanation and asks if anyone did come in while she was resting.

Kuronue replies in the negative and, after digging through his bag to get his lock-pick, he walks over to the locked cell door. "And since no one has come in yet, that means that we'd better get out of there before The Fox's Rose tries out her plan."

"What exactly is her plan?" I ask, recalling that Kuronue had vaguely mentioned it before his prank was discovered.

Kuronue grins again and nods to Tsukino. "Tama-chan can fill you in while I re-pick the lock."

"Why did you bother relocking it in the first place?" I ask, wondering if I had told him to and if he actually listened to me.

Before turning his back to me, Kuronue frowns and stares at me with all the sincerity he can muster as he replies, "Because I was only told to knock out the guards and any thought I could have created could have jeopardized the plan." Without another word, he set to work on the lock.

Frowning at his childish shenanigans, I ignore him and turn to face Tsukino who looks away. While she had been studying the cell I had thought I was imagining her avoiding my eye but now I'm sure of it. We are silent for a few moments before I ask, "How much do you know?"

"Kuronue-san explained a bit about your history with each other and with a lady called Mikiku-san who was also a mixed-breed," she replies reluctantly.

I'll admit that I was taken off guard by her reply since I had been asking about The Fox's Rose plan, but it is good to know how much Kuronue told her about our past in case she decides to hate me for it. For that reason, I do not correct her by saying that I was asking about The Fox's Rose and instead nod. "Kuronue mentioned something about you and another cat finding some plans and about The Fox's Rose planning something."

She nods and quickly explains The Fox's Rose plan to seduce me so that Tsukino would be blamed and that she would be able to escape arrest. Unfortunately, the plan as Tsukino knows it is vague in the extreme so we have little idea of what to prepare for. I am silent for a moment as I muse over what Tsukino reported before I ask, "And the plans?"

"They were for the collars you and Kuronue-san are wearing but according to the plans the only way to remove them is a cat demon to use their energy to remove it."

"Finding a cat demon to help us now is going to be very unlikely."

"I could use my energy and get them off."

I shake my head. "It wouldn't be wise. If we aren't able to get out of the jail unseen and are attacked it would be wiser to have you at least able to protect yourself. Are you sure there is no other way?"

She shakes her head and Kuronue speaks up. "Actually there is another way but you'd have to be at least a level A to do it."

Tsukino and I turn to see Kuronue leaning against the wall of the cage by the open door. Deciding to ignore the door for the moment, I ask, "I suppose you've already managed to get your collar off then."

Kuronue nods. "All you have to do is outlast the current of electricity. If you hold out, the collar will short circuit and boom, you're uncollared."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tsukino frown. "I thought you tried everything to get them off," she says.

"I lied," Kuronue says before grabbing his bag and walking out the door. "So shall we leave before The Fox's Rose shows up and tries out her newest attempt to sexually harass Kurama?"

Pointedly ignoring Kuronue's remark, I retrieve my own bag and start towards the door, Tsukino following just behind me. Realizing that she does not have anything to disguise herself with once we are out of the cat demon base, I ask, "How close is your room?"

Before Tsukino can reply, Kuronue halts in front of us, a surprisingly grim look on his face as he reaches into his bag and pulls out his scythe. "No time for that now. It sounds like The Fox's Rose is making her move." He pauses before adding, "And she's brought company."

Following Kuronue's example and hoping that I would be able to out last the current in the collar, I reach into my own bag and ready for a fight.

* * *

Mixed Breed Mixed Feelings

As I explained to Kurama about Rose's plan, I was careful to avoid his gaze though I know he was puzzled by it. I had two reasons for doing that. One was I felt too mixed up about how to feel about him. He obviously only saw me as slut or a toy to be used and then thrown away, but I half-sensed that he also cared. That same half-sense also got me to trust Rose so I bet I was out to lunch. Nevertheless, regardless of how Kurama saw me, in animal terms he was the alpha and the leader in the mission so he was free to use me anyway he wanted. To make this as simple as possible, if he wanted to be an ass, confuse the hell out of me, and take a roundabout route to capture Rose, which would totally drive me insane, instead of just working together, and getting it done, he could. Unfortunately for me, it appeared that was how he wanted to play.

The second I was avoiding his eyes was because my curse had returned. Even though my sense of smell is pathetic compared to most cat and dog demons, it's still better than a humans and when I woke up I was positive that I had Kurama's scent on my back as if he was laying beside me when I was sleeping. Because of that my curse had returned from its holiday of not being around when Neichi was and I was too aware of Kurama in my opinion so I was worried that if I looked at him I wouldn't be able to control myself and he would get too much pleasure out of it. Since the last thing I wanted was to give him any sort of pleasure in any sort of way, I avoided his eyes. Sadly, mixed breeds are destined for failure.

After I finished telling Kurama about what I knew of Rose's plans and other things, we left the cell and headed towards the door to the jail, Kuronue in the lead and Kurama and I following. Everything was silent, and I was wrapped up in my own thoughts when Kurama's voice broke into my thoughts. Instinctually I looked up and too late realized what I was doing. Thankfully, even though my curse acted up so did my amazing ability to get sidetracked. Kurama eyes were now more yellow than the blue hue they had been at the start of the mission and his hair was slowly turning gray. Even as I watched, his hair and eyes swiftly changed hues as they came closer and closer to what I assumed to be their original colour.

Instantly, I realized that some of energy was escaping the control of the collar. The fact that it was spirit energy and weak made things all the worse. If he continued to change then it would only be minutes before he was no longer disguised and without spirit energy, which allowed him to remain in a human body without destroying it. Odds were either he would run out of spirit energy and use up all his demon energy in order to keep his demon form until he completely ran out of energy and transformed back into a human where the toxic energy of Demon World would kill him or he's body would self-destruct because of the imbalance in energy. Either way it would not be good for Kurama if he ran out of Spirit Energy. Also there was the risk that someone would recognize him in his quickly fading disguise. Kurama didn't even seem to notice his weakening power or changing form, most likely because of the collar.

Before I could warn Kurama, Kuronue's voice cut through the air.

"No time for that now. It sounds like The Fox's Rose is making her move," he said as he pulled out his weapon, "and she's brought company."

Kurama quickly followed suit and suspecting that he wouldn't even notice if I did an energy transfer with the collar on, I moved behind him and gave him a quick sort of hug, transferring some of my energy into him to stall off the transformation.

At that same moment, Neichi and Rose entered the jail, and Neichi's jaw hit the floor.

* * *

Just before our opponents enter the jail Tsukino moves behind me and wraps her arms around me for a second. I am about to turn and question her when Rose and her partner burst through the door in a cloud of raccoon scent and smoke as if they blasted down the door without seeing if it was even locked. At that same moment, my collar loosens its grip on my neck and falls to the ground. I almost follow it as I feel the imbalance between my demon and spirit energy. Quickly, I contain my remaining spirit energy and try to focus because Neichi has just noticed Tsukino.

"What are you doing, Tama-chan?" he demands. "Why were you hugging the enemy!?" A glance in Kuronue's direction shows that he too thinks that the cat demon needs to work on his priorities.

The Fox's Rose tries to appear surprised as well but her glee is blatant as her black eyes wander over us. "I thought you were on our side, Tama-chan," she whines with a pout, "or were you just using my weakness to allow your lover to capture me?"

"Lover?!" Neichi shouts at the same moment as Tsukino steps out from behind me.

"Don't think all mixed breeds are just like you. Exploiting others' weaknesses is your trick, and unlike you, some of us can live without needing to be in others beds, Amaterasu," Tsukino says with a glare, which quickly turns into wide eyes as she hears herself speak.

Everyone, including Tsukino herself, is either confused or stunned by the declaration of The Fox's Rose's possibly real identity. However, The Fox's Rose is quick to respond as she says, "Now wherever did you get the idea my name is that? It's Abi remember? I told you that when you were spilling your guts about your love for that hunk behind you."

Tsukino is about to reply when Neichi shouts, "I've heard enough!" He stares at Tsukino as he creates a black axe out of demon energy. With a grim look on his face he says, "I don't care what your relationship with that fleabag is, but I can't overlook the fact that you are helping them escape. I'm sorry Tama-chan, but I've got to think of the army." He raises the axe and rushes forward. "Maybe next time we'll be luckier."

Though I know that now is not the time to be pondering about Tsukino's relationship with that demon, I can't help but notice that Neichi's actions disprove what I had thought long ago. If he was the one who marked her, then he wouldn't be trying to kill her as when two mated demons attack each other with a killing intent all their energy will be removed so that they cannot fight physically. Since Neichi is able to charge Tsukino with a killing intent it means that he didn't mark her. Unfortunately that also means that Tsukino is in danger.

Quickly I grab her around her waist and pull her out of the way as Neichi's axe cuts into the ground where she had been standing milliseconds before. While I create my Rose Whip with a rose bud, Kuronue moves to block Neichi. As he passes me I mutter, "We have to keep this quiet otherwise we'll be battling the entire army."

Kuronue nods and grins as he parries Neichi's axe. "Aren't you glad I'm here and not noisy reckless Yomi? Protect little sis while I'm gone."

I nod and tell Tsukino to hide before turning to engage with The Fox's Rose in battle. We trade blows for a while until The Fox's Rose manages to unarm me by grabbing my whip and throwing knives at me. Abandoning my whip, I jump backwards and create a new weapon as my whip turns back into a rose.

The Fox's Rose grins at me as she lunges forward and dodges my whip before appearing in my face. Thankfully, Kuronue spots the dangerous situation I'm in and throws his scythe at her, causing her to jump back and give me some breathing room. Without a word, we switch opponents and I create a sword made of vines that wrap around my arm for it is better suited for dealing with Neichi's axe than my Rose Whip.

His first move is to try to decapitate me, however I counter by blocking his blade with my own and pushing upwards. He stumbles and I lunge forward ready to gut him. Unfortunately, he is also quick and blocks my blade with his own. I move backwards as he waves his axe around sending a wave of energy towards me in a fashion I vaguely recognize but can't recall. Realizing that Neichi's energy attacks put everyone in range in danger, I move farther back into the jail using the cages for cover as I dodge his many waves of energy, dropping seeds as I run.

Soon I reach a corner and turn to face Neichi as he ceases his energy attacks and resumes trying to hack me to pieces. I parry his blows easily and wait for an opportunity to allow the seeds I dropped to grow. Unfortunately, I wait too long and Neichi gets a lucky hit. Bleeding from a small wound to my arm, I glare at him as I wait for the bleeding to stop and his next attack. Typical of most demons, Neichi licks his blade when he has finally managed to wound me.

"And here I thought you would be more trouble after all those tournaments. What's the matter Kurama? Not used to your demon form anymore?" he asks me as he lovingly strokes his axe before his eyes narrow and he attacks me once more.

Thinking that I would try to dodge to the side, he sends a wave of energy at me waiting for the explosion that could kill me. Sadly for him, he has underestimated me, and the next second, my sword is protrudes from his back and blood is erupting from his mouth.

Without even looking at him, I remove my sword and run back to where I left The Fox's Rose to Kuronue. However, I do wish to risk Neichi remaining alive so as I pass I allow my energy to enter my plants. They crowd around the fallen demon and block him from my view.

Trusting my plants to finish the job, I continue on my way and quickly return to find The Fox's Rose scaling the walls of the jail, steadily getting annoyed with Kuronue who is now hanging from the ceiling taunting her.

"Aw, did the little pup forget how to fly? Or are you just afraid of heights?" he asks as he throws his scythe at her while upside down.

The Fox's Rose pauses in her climbing at the same time to glare and dodge his attack. "Maybe you're the one who is afraid and is avoiding the fight by hiding up there."

The grin on his face grows as he replies, "Or maybe you are trying to stall the fight by climbing because you are afraid."

The Fox's Rose laughs. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

Kuronue shrugs. "My awe-inspiring kills? My mind-blowing abilities? Maybe it's my devilish good looks. I don't really know so why don't you fly up here and tell me."

The Fox's Rose hisses and throws a ball of energy towards the bat who quickly releases his grip on the ceiling and falls towards the floor to dodge it. At the last second, he turns so that he lands on his feet and faces The Fox's Rose once more. "Here kitty-kitty kitty, let's see if you land on your feet."

The Fox's Rose glares at him once more but instead of jumping she started to climb down the wall headfirst something I've only seen raccoon demons capable of.

She lunges towards him with a punch in mind, and Kuronue answers by sheathing his chain scythe. Within seconds, they are experiencing hand to hand combat once more.

Deciding to leave Kuronue to it, I search for Tsukino so that as soon as he has beaten The Fox's Rose we can leave. However, I haven't travelled very far when I hear something rip into flesh and smell Tsukino's blood.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know, short chapter, long wait, evil cliff hanger, and random title change. I would say I'm sorry but that would imply I would never do this again when I probably will (except for the title change.) Sorry about the cliff-hanger but I felt this was the best place to cut it off and besides, it's an update right? And I am working on chapter eighteen right now too, so hopefully it will be up quickly so that you don't have to suffer.**

**Explanation for the title change, I felt that it matched the story better and now the series has a title for it that makes sense. The SIWSM series. Silly I know but basically Tsukino is facing a lot with and without the gang's support and doesn't feel as if she is worth all their effort (comes out more in the first and probably third story). So the series title is from her point of view… I probably should have figured this out and wrote it out a while ago but honestly, I didn't think of this as a series thing. I just saw the first one and was planning to leave it at that but then people reviewed so yeah. Bottom line, I changed the title to one I liked and now will probably end up re-redoing the story again at a much later date after the series is done… I just realized I have to go back and change all the titles on the earlier chapters now… damn.**

**Also I changed chapter sixteen a bit as you can see so that Tsukino is now sleeping before Kurama wakes up rather than playing cards. Sorry if I confused you. (I am actually sorry this time, about the confusion not the changing bit.)**

**Anyways, so there's another chapter done and I'm just wondering what's your favourite fight out of the series so far? I've gotta say the one with Kurama and Neichi is probably my favourite other than Enma right now.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading, the reviews, **_**etc.**_ **and happy whatever you are celebrating this year. See ya next chapter!**

**-D101**


	18. Maybe If

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, and the plot._

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_Recap_: Kurama beat Neichi, left him for plant food, and then went to go find Tsukino and smelt blood, remember?

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**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Eighteen  
****Escape from the Base Part 3**

Fate Making It's Choice

Feeling helpless is something that I should have been used to, after all, I'm a mixed breed, and the only help we were **supposed** to get is to the grave, but as Kurama and Kuronue battled Neichi and Ros-Amaterasu, I stood helpless on the sidelines, still unsure of my loyalties. Was it right for me to 'betray' the cat army in order to capture Amaterasu? Was I **even** betraying them? Was I betraying Keiko, Botan, and the others hope that I would return to them by **not** helping?

My head was spinning on its stem as I tried to figure out what I should do. I was already too deep in to stop Kurama and Kuronue from escaping, but it was the right thing to do because they weren't really part of the war. They were only after Amaterasu for reasons unrelated. However by allowing them to capture Amaterasu I was denying the cat army both a healer and a fighter. But, on the same token, removing Amaterasu would allow Neyuki more freedom to cripple the war as Amaterasu was always reporting to the generals about possible traitors. Crippling the war was a good thing, but it would also mean killing the generals. However if the war continued then more would die.

I shook my head to try to get it back on straight and managed dodge Amaterasu's throwing knives, which had missed Kuronue. I had been a fool to ever to split my loyalties as I had. If I had just ignored Kurama's comments about how he viewed me and sucked it up then I wouldn't be having this crisis. Still though, he could have at least informed me of his viewing me as a whore a little nicer.

Pain stabbed through my chest so badly I thought I was having a heart attack until I remembered that my heart didn't beat. Because of the pain, I ended up collapsing onto my knees. Quickly, I stood back up and made a dash away from Kuronue and Amaterasu's battle and in the opposite direction Kurama had ran from Neichi who gave chase. If the pain continued to grow as it seemed to be doing, I would be too distracted to avoid the attacks that missed their marks. Within seconds I found a small cage in the back of the jail, which I crawled into, hidden from view as the pain moved from my chest to my arms.

In the back of my mind where I was still focused on my crisis with what I should do I figured that this would work. Kurama could now make the decision whether or not to waste time to find me instead of bring Amaterasu in. Since I wasn't close by he wouldn't feel obligated to bring me along if he didn't want to. And if Fate stepped in and forced him and Kuronue to leave then it just meant that I was supposed to have rejoined the cats and lived my life as a rogue demon but messed up and was just going to die now.

The pain was growing worse as my emotions slowly started to overflow as my mind started to spin around in things again. No longer thinking about my split loyalties, I was seeing my past, or past life maybe. Of course, I could have been just going insane. I saw flashes of events that I supposed had happened to me in a dream and/or real life. I saw Kurama with dead serious golden eyes and long silver hair enter a bar with Kuronue and glare at me as if debating my right to live. In the next flash, Kurama as a human was dancing with me in the Urameshi's backyard as a party happened inside. Flash. Kuronue was explaining that he wasn't such a bad person. Kurama was just too obsessed with his job apparently. Another flash. Human Kurama was carrying me across a packing lot as Botan shouted something about chains. Flash. The pain of fear and helplessness overflowed in the viewing of seeing Demon Kurama stumble into the bar covered in blood, which gushed from a wound to his chest, and pain eased when he collapsed into my arms. Another Flash. Heartbreak and sadness ripped into me once again when I relived our fight on the hill where I slap him and left. Dark Flash. Everything was completely black and void of anything except for a vague outline of human Kurama and the feather-light sensation of his hand brushing my tear covered cheek, which brought me comfort. Finally, in the last flash a raccoon demon with black eyes scratched my face, causing blood to flow as she yelled that Kurama was hers.

With an effort, I pulled myself from the illusions created by my mind to ease the pain, but it followed me back to reality as blood as started to flow from a cut to my cut. Sensing rather than seeing the next blow coming, I jumped out of the cage and turned to see that the guard who Kuronue had knocked out was awake with a bloody sword in hand.

His green eyes were narrowed in pure rage and loathing. He wasted no time with words and instead charged at me. This time I was too slow and received a cut to my leg, not deep enough to impair my fighting greatly but enough to sting as the air touched it as I dodged. Finally, I managed to find a piece of pipe to use against the sword. Though Kuwabara himself was self-taught, he had taught me one thing that the cat army never had bothered with- how to disarm your opponent. Rushing forward, I whacked the hilt of the sword right out of the guard's hands before retreating a bit and throwing my own weapon away. Moving into a fighting stance, I silently proposed hand to hand combat, something I would stand a chance in as long as he wasn't a fight fanatic like Yusuke. As I waited for an answer, I also proposed to Fate. If it wanted me to live I would have to survive this fight. If I was to die anytime soon, I wanted to be killed right there and get it over and done with. However, if it wanted me to live and return to my friends, I would need another sign of some sort.

The guard accepted my proposal and caused his claws to grow into ten lethal daggers. Once again he charged and I was forced to dodge. Honestly, I probably could have used Wings of Steel but that could easily backfire causing me to cut up my back and lose valuable blood as I tried to dodge blows in the hallway between the lines of cages. Soon I was in a corner and jumped over him to avoid losing a limb. Unfortunately, he turned faster than I thought and managed to stab into my side with his claws. Ignoring the pain for the moment, I rolled on my side and out of the way of another attack. Standing quickly, I felt fear. If I didn't start fighting back I was going to die. As odd as it sounded, I was not completely aware of the fact that I could die. I mean I knew I could but I didn't really realize that fact. Now as death stared me in the face, I realized that I wasn't quite as accepting of death as I thought.

Deciding that if Fate wanted me to die, it would kill me somehow regardless of whether I fought or not, I allowed all my training to come to the surface. Ignoring the pain, I dodged another attack and aimed a kick at the guard's face. He grabbed my shoe and threw me again a cage and was about to stab me when I used Wings of Steel to cut him slightly so that he let go. As soon as he had released me I returned my wings back to normal and aimed a punch for his jaw to put some distance between us.

He recovered quickly and charged once more. Starting to get caught up in the battle, I jumped over him and roundhouse kicked him on the side. Though I didn't have the strength of Yusuke and the other fighters, I still managed to make the guard stumble. However, he quickly recovered and came at me again. This time, I knocked his arm out of the way and punched his gut, a favourite move of Yusuke's or so it seemed. I moved back once again to be ready for another charge when blades made of blood came at me. I dodged and found myself right in front of the guard, his claws aimed for my neck. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of black but I ignored it as I quickly dove forward and threw my shoulder into the guard's stomach since he was taller than I was. He grunted and his arms were about to wrap around me when I ducked down and kicked his legs out from under him. However, he started to fall towards me, his claws once again aimed for a lethal kill. Suddenly I was pulled backwards and found myself pressed up against a familiar body.

Kurama glared at the guard over my head with his whip in hand.

The room was still for a moment as the guard glares back at Kurama. Abruptly Kuronue's voice broke the stillness as he shouted, "The Fox's Rose is heading your way Kurama!"

For a second the guard stared at Kurama and then almost as if he saw through Kurama's disguise he suddenly ran towards the wall where a rope that rang an alarm when pulled was located. Kurama and I moved to stop him, only to find ourselves blocked by Amaterasu. The guard pulled the rope and Kurama grabbed my arm and pulled me into his arms. Without a second look he quickly ran towards where Kuronue was waiting by the door.

"We have a minute to get out of here before more guards show," Kurama informed Kuronue as he allowed me to stand on the ground once more.

"Less than that," Kuronue said at the same moment I heard movement outside, "these guys were prepared. I'd say we have thirty seconds."

Kurama frowned but said nothing in reply as we quickly leave the jail. "What's the fastest way out of here?" he asked me.

"Probably jumping off the nearest branch if you can fly," I reply. "The nearest open section is by the infirmary."

Kurama nodded. "Lead on then."

I nodded in reply and started to run down the maze of the branches. We were halfway to the open section when a group of ten cats blocked our way and from the sounds of things more were on their way. Deciding we couldn't waste anymore time, I concentrated and screamed. All the cats dropped as my Sonic Scream knocked them out. Unfortunately, it also alerted the other cats of our location and before we could more we were once more blocked in and surrounded on both sides. There were even more cats but no more were coming so I prepared to use my new attack once again.

However before I could, Kurama clapped his hand over my mouth and pulled me backwards so that Kuronue was standing in front of us. "Don't waste your energy," he informed me, "there could be more coming."

As he fought, Kuronue overheard us and shouted, "These are the last until the next group runs over from the other side of the tree. They're all eating right now."

Kurama ignored him and released me before handing me a sword he must have just created. "Don't use your energy," he reminded me before we turned our attention towards the wave of guards.

Two came towards me at once but Kurama quickly took care of one of them so that I was only fighting one. However the cat I was fighting had more experience with his axe than I did with my sword so I found myself being pushed backwards and slowly gaining small cuts while my opponent remained virtually unharmed. But as time went on, instead of my sword becoming heavier and more awkward as I became more exhausted, the sword seemed to become lighter and moved more easily. Finally, I was able to knock the cat out with a well placed hit from my hilt to her forehead.

For a second I paused to breath and noticed that the sword had lengthened but also was lighter than when I first started fighting. The shape of the sword had also changed from a slightly curved blade to a straight pointed one. I had started with a katana and ended with a rapier

Not able to pause for very long to study my weapon, I quickly engaged in battle once again knocking out my opponent more easily this time. I had defeated four more people and was in combat with a fifth when I noticed a figure watching us from behind the safe barrier of cat demons. Amaterasu seemed to be enjoying herself as she watched, licking her lips every so often as blood started to cover the floor making it easier to slip and, in doing so, die.

I turned to see if Kurama or Kuronue had noticed her but they were both facing the opposite direction. Shouting would be stupid so I knocked out my opponent and moved towards them, knocking out or stabbing into limbs to disable demons for a moment. As a healer I had learned which points of the body would disable demons quickly, the feet being the best place to stab as they were also the easiest to heal but would also impair fighting.

I was almost at Kuronue's side when a demon jumped out from the confusion aiming a blow at Kuronue's back. Moving quickly, I blocked the demon's claw with my sword and pushed their claws away. Kuronue noticed the threat at that point when the cat let out an enraged hiss and quickly turning, defeated the demon.

"That's for the help sis," he said with a laugh as he turned forward once more, trusting me to watch his back.

"Amaterasu is watching us," I told him. Her name came more easily that time, as I was virtually positive that was her real name.

He nodded as he kicked a demon in the head. "That's Kurama's problem so he can deal with it. You'd think he'd learn that fan girls are not to be taken lightly."

I nodded and looked towards Amaterasu again as a cat demon came at me from that direction. For a second I considered disobeying Kurama's order for me not to use my energy. After all, Kuronue was standing beside me and Kurama was farther out of the way so the attack would miss him. The Sonic Scream also would stun Amaterasu if I aimed so the mission would be over. However there was a con for the situation. If I miss aimed wrongly or more guards showed up, I would be out of energy and we would still have enemies to fight.

Kurama's warning surfaced in my mind again as I knocked out another demon. He had told me the same thing at the start of the mission warning me not to use my energy. Amaterasu, on the other hand, had encouraged use of my energy. Also there was the fact that when Kurama had warned me he seemed worried. From what I knew about Kurama, he wouldn't necessarily be worried about escaping as he probably had been in tighter spots than what we were facing when he was a thief. Also if he was worried about that then he would have let me use Sonic Scream. Logically thinking, that meant he was worried about something else and since his warning was about my spirit energy so he must have been worried about me.

I found that a bit hard to believe since he viewed me as only a toy but maybe it was because he wasn't bored with me yet. Regardless, I pushed the matter from my mind just in time to avoid losing my sword as a cat nearly knocked it out of my hand. Annoyed with myself for getting distracted while in battle, I pushed myself back into 'battle mode' as Yusuke called it. However I was having a hard time remaining in battle mode. Exhaustion was starting to get to me as I made more and more mistakes. Part way though knocking out another cat, I made the mistake of leaving myself open for a demon to lunge at me from my left and stab towards my rib cage. Thankfully, Kurama saw the blow coming and dispatched the demon before standing at my left, facing the demons with a glare that could have froze even Hell.

We had a millisecond to catch our breath before the remaining demons charged us once again and standing in a small triangle, we faced them. Though so exhausted we would barely stand, we kept fighting.

Moments later, Kuronue panted, "Is it just me or are there more demons fighting then we started with?"

Kurama punched demon in the face before replying, "The demons who were knocked out by Tama-chan's attack woke up five minutes ago."

"Still though, aren't there more demons then that here now?" I asked as I tried to keep standing.

No one answered me because at that second, I misblocked an attack and stabbed a cat in the stomach. The cat suddenly exploded into a cloud of black smoke and goop that attacked my eyes, effectively blinding me. I pulled back from the explosion with a hiss and rubbed at my eyes trying to remove the black goop.

I heard Kuronue swear before saying, "Illusions," and felt Kurama move to block me while I tried to rub the blackness away from my eyes so I could fight again.

"Try not to stab them unless they are a fair distance away," Kurama said as he kicked a cat away before using his whip to cut into its arm. "Are you hurt, Tama-chan?"

I shook my head. "I just can't see very well."

"Keep behind me and Kuronue until you can see then."

I nodded and tried to remove the black stuff again, not wanting Kurama and Kuronue to have to fight the rest of the cats by themselves. Finally, I could see again and reached for my sword that I had dropped. At that same moment I felt my left side erupt into pain, causing me to collapse to my knees. Something warm and wet poured into my clothing, and when I looked down, I saw that the ripped edges of my clothing where the demon had clawed me were turning dark red. For a moment, I stared stupidly at the wound until a smile appeared on my face. It looked like Fate had chosen as I started to feel lightheaded. The cat had put poison on their claws and the poison was attacking my exhausted system.

However, I forced myself to my feet hoping that Kurama and Kuronue hadn't noticed my situation yet. Though Fate wanted me to die I had to help Kurama and Kuronue get out of the cat base before I died at least. After tossing Kurama's warning about my energy into the back of my mind, I tried to heal myself.

Suddenly it felt like gravity had increased on me as I tried to summon enough energy to heal myself. Quickly the pressure grew too much, and pain flowed through every inch of my body. The pain grew as blood started to force itself out of my body. Dimly, I noticed that the poison was also being forced out as the puddle of blood under me grew. The small wounds I had gained during the battle grew bigger and worse I felt my knees give way. I collapsed on the ground making a small splash as the blood collected and tried to keep breathing as the air around me seemed to grow thick. It felt as though hands gripped my heart and lungs and were slowly squeezing the life out of me.

Blackness returned to my vision quickly clouding the edges of my view as despair washed over me. I probably wasn't going to last much longer. Trying not to cry at my own helplessness, I closed my eyes for a moment and silently apologize to Kuronue and Kurama for not being able to help anymore and to everyone for not being a pure blood demon. After all, if I was then maybe the mission would have ended properly, and I would have been able to live. If I was a pure demon, I would have been worth saving, and maybe Kurama could have seen me as more than just a whore. But I wasn't a pure demon so none of those things were going to happen and my time was up. I was luckily to have lived as long as I had.

Finally, I opened my eyes to see one last moment before they closed forever, and wished that I could have witnessed something other than the battlefield. But I was a mixed breed, and it was than I deserved to even see the world one last time. Resigned I allowed my eyes to slip close and just before the world went black I saw Amaterasu through the battle with a frown on her face. She held up a sphere, and I felt my soul being tugged upon. Without any more fight or strength left, I left my body and relinquished my soul to the darkness beyond life.

* * *

Day Hundred-Thirteen

"Kurama!" Kuronue shouts at me over the roars of the cats attacking us.

"I know!" I shout back as I try to defend Tsukino, who has just fallen to the ground for the second time, and myself. The demon had gotten past me, and when I had turned to defeat it, Tsukino had already knocked him out by knocking him in the temple with her wing. I had wanted to inspect the injury she had gained, but another demon lunged at me before I could.

Now she has fallen for a second time, most likely due to her energy. I had warned her but it seemed she ignored me once again and tried to heal herself. No longer caring about simply knocking out the cats, I pull some seeds from my hair and throw them on the ground. Though I also probably shouldn't be using my energy, I will if it means getting us out of here alive.

Within seconds the seeds have taken root and grow into monstrous plants, hungry for demon blood. While my plants provide a shield, I turn towards Tsukino who is laying in her own blood. Her demon features stopped in the act of fading from navy blue into another colour.

"She's still breathing and has a pulse," Kuronue informs me when I reach towards her. "What the heck happened to her?"

Gently, I take her into my arms and look towards the exit. "I don't know but if we don't get out of here quickly, her situation will be the least of our worries."

Kuronue nods and we quickly dash pass the cats who are battling my plants. Though most of my energy is gone now, it was worth the risk since we should be able to escape easily now. Just as we enter the main branch to where Tsukino had said we could escape, Kuronue and I both spot The Fox's Rose headed in the same direction as us. If we are lucky, this might mean the end of the mission.

Moments before we reach the open air, Amaterasu turns and farther down the hallway. At that same moment, five more cats jump out of the shadows. Cursing our luck, I shift Tsukino in my arms so that I can use my Rose Whip more freely. Both Kuronue and I are exhausted, and I'm unable to summon anymore plants if I wish to remain in my demon form. For a moment, I consider retreating and finding another way but then we would not only lose The Fox's Rose, we could become lost in the maze of the base. And so reluctantly, Kuronue and I raise our weapons and prepare for another draining battle. However, before we can even move the five cats collapse to reveal the person who had defeated them.

"I never would have thought that such pathetic demons would give you such a hard time, Kurama. You're losing your touch."

I nod. "It's good to see you too Hiei."

The vertically challenged fire demon just grumbles before he turns to lead us out. "Let's get out of here before more idiots with a death wish show up."

"Hang on," Kuronue says before walking up to Hiei and staring down at him. "That's Hiei, the demon who mastered the Dragon of Darkness Flame? You replaced me not only with a moron but with a midget?"

Hiei eyes narrow and he says, "Who are you?"

"This is Kuronue, an old partner of mine," I answer before turning to Kuronue and saying, "If you wish to yell at me about my choice in partners, can we please do it where our lives aren't in danger?"

"Wait what about The Fox's Rose?" Kuronue asks as Hiei starts to walk away.

I frown. "We don't have much of a choice. If we stay, we die."

Hiei scoffs. "You mean you just want to get out of here so you can check your mate's wounds."

"She isn't my mate."

Kuronue grins. "Yet."

Both Hiei and I glare at him before turning to walk towards the exit. Once outside, we pay little attention to anything other than the cat demons rushing towards us. Before we can even move, the cats have surrounded us and once more we are in battle. Within seconds it is obvious that we have to leave and quickly.

"We have to get out of their territory," I tell Hiei and Kuronue as we parry the incoming attacks as best we can.

"Any ideas how to even get out of the base?" Hiei asks as he cuts down another cat.

"Simple, we jump," Kuronue says.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're the only one conscious who can fly!"

"And in case you haven't noticed, it isn't that long of a drop. Just jump into the water."

Hiei is about to reply, but I speak first as I cut down three demons. "Kuronue's right. We don't have much of a choice. I can't keep this up much longer if I want to remain in this form, and we both know you can't fight all of these demons alone, Hiei."

"Hn."

Without any more discussion, we turn and jump.

* * *

**A/n: How was that? Not that long of a wait now was it? and I messed around with chapter 17 Tsukino's part so you can all kill me later about it. And who else almost cried when reading Tsukino's ending bit? Finally who wants to see Neini (Neyuki's kid sister) again in the later stories?**

**Okay, now that my questions have all been answered, happy holidays, and think of this as a late Christmas present to everyone who reads, reviews, and enjoys this story and series. Hope to hear from you and see you next chapter!**

**-D101**


	19. Up Yours

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap_: They are **FINALLY** out of the base! Ra I wasted three chapters on that. Oh and it looks like Tsukino is either in the third stage or dead.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Nineteen  
****Kurama's Karma**

Day Hundred-Fourteen

It's been twenty-four hours since we first escaped the cat base and found the underwater cave, which we are now resting in. Tsukino still has not awoken yet and shows no signs of doing so. However, she also has not shown as other signs of gene destruction, which is both a blessing and a curse since we have no way of knowing if it was her genes that caused her temporary coma. For now we are suspecting that her genes are not the reason for her coma, as her wings, tail, and ears have not changed from their current navy blue colour. Nevertheless, I am wary of moving her anymore than we have to so we have not left the cave and wait to see if the cats will follow us into the lake or assume we were eaten by the Hate Fish.

When we first entered the cave and started to dry off, Hiei informed Kuronue and me of why he bothered to appear at the cat demon base in the first place.

"Koenma lost contact with you and felt that you were taking too long so I got dragged into rescuing you," Hiei said as he rigged out his soaked cloak. "He also had some information to deliver to you."

"Lucky us," Kuronue muttered as he did the same to his hat. "So what did the King of Spirit World want to tell us?"

Hiei glared at Kuronue over his sword as he checked to be sure that all the moisture had been removed. "The baby wanted to tell **Kurama** that-"

Kuronue glared back. "Hey you saying that I don't count!?"

Hiei pointedly ignored him and faced me. "I'll never understand why you bother to work with idiots."

If there is one thing that Kuronue doesn't take well, it's being ignored. The second thing he doesn't take well it's being underestimated. Within half a second, Kuronue was on his feet pointing at Hiei. "I bet you can't fight your way out of a paper bag if you don't have your 'scary' flame to help you."

Slightly interested, Hiei turned to face Kuronue and said, "I don't usually give warnings, but since you used to be Kurama's partner, I give you one. Shut up or I **will** kill you."

Kuronue smirked and gave Hiei the middle finger. "Up yours."

Within a second, both had their weapons out and were dashing around the cave. I was strongly reminded of Hiei and Kuwabara fighting only Kuronue was fairing far better than Kuwabara ever did.

I watched for a moment before sighing and looking over at Tsukino to be sure that the two weren't endangering her in their play. I say 'play' because Kuronue was merely bored and looking to test his skills against a new opponent, and Hiei was just being predictable. However, before they can cause the cave to collapse I put a stop to their play by willing the smaller roots around me from the giant tree to wrap around their weapons and hold them out of reach.

"You said Koenma had information to give me?" I asked before either could yell at me for interrupting their fight.

Hiei glared at me, obviously annoyed at me for stopping him from completing a surprisingly good fight. Because he was annoyed he refused to answer my question and said, "You might as well check on your mate. We both know that you won't be able to pay attention until you know she is fine."

I frown at him and said, "She isn't my mate and I am paying attention."

"Then why is it that every second you think we aren't looking you look over in her direction, and we both know that your thoughts weren't filled by watching us fight moments ago."

My frown widened. "No more than yours are filled with Yukina's safety while a battle is happening near by."

"Don't make me rip out your voice box."

"That's assuming you are able."

Kuronue naturally was confused. "You're a natural mind-reader?" he asked Hiei.

"Jagan-eye implant," I replied before Hiei could say anything.

Kuronue stared at Hiei for a moment before asking, "Why would you put yourself through that kind of torture?"

Instead of replying, Hiei glared at him and then stalked off, probably to dry off further and to probably think of many ways to kill me.

Once Kuronue felt Hiei is out of hearing distance he turned to me. "So that's the Hiei who can use the Dragon of the Darkness Flame in Human World?"

I nodded.

"Weird, I would have thought he would have been taller since he mastered the Black Dragon."

I sighed. "Kuronue, please try to not annoy Hiei. He is much faster and stronger than you expect."

"In order words, you think would get my butt kicked."

I can't help but smile barely. "Judging from the fight I just witnessed, I'd say so."

Kuronue frowned and glared at me. "But if Shrimp-Boat is to be believed then you weren't really watching the fight."

I said nothing else but walked over to where Tsukino was laying against the wall of the cave. Since I was still damp, I avoided dripping on her by kneeling down in front of her. Carefully, I ran my hands over various wounds and used some of my energy to heal them. Once they were healed, I stood up and sat by Kuronue, my vision swimming slightly.

"So how is she?" Kuronue asked after a moment.

Trying to fight off the darkness at the edge of my vision, I replied, "Exhausted from her energy escaping. It appears that her body is also having trouble making more energy. Soon, her life energy may be unable to adapt as well."

Kuronue nodded and then his eyes widened. "Why the heck are you still bleeding!?"

Weary, I noticed that many of my wounds from the battles I had entered in order to escape the base were still bleeding and heavily at that.

"Damn it Kurama! Are you trying to kill yourself!?" Kuronue asked as he pulled out some of the bandages he always carried around in his pocket. Silently and quickly, he bandaged my wounds. Once he was done he asked, "Jeez, is this all part of being human? Not even being able to heal at natural demon speed in demon form?"

I shook my head. "No. Normally, I'd already been healing by this point but something is wrong."

Hiei suddenly appeared at my shoulder and said, "Koenma told me to warn you that this could happen because of the pills."

Kuronue's eyes widened once again. "Pills? Kurama, you're on drugs now!?"

I was only able to shake my head once more before turning to Hiei. "What else did Koenma want to warn me about?"

"He said that if you stop taking the pills your demon appearance will last for a little while but your demon energy will be mostly used to keep your demon appearance rather than healing or attacking."

I sighed and nodded. "Anything else?"

Hiei shrugged. "Something about how when mixed breeds reach the third level all their memories and stuff they lost from the past two times comes back in pieces."

I nodded again. "That would explain why she was able to learn to speak again and possibly why she called The Fox's Rose Amaterasu. Perhaps she knew her before she lost her memories."

Kuronue frowned. "Which time though and is it even the Amaterasu we know, Kurama?"

I paused. We as a group had never bothered to wonder about Tsukino's life from before she met us unless it had to do with the possibility of her or her mate trying to harm humanity. Now that Kuronue had pointed out the possibility of Tsukino forgetting her original life before meeting us in Human World, I started to wonder just who was Tsukino, and if The Fox's Rose was Amaterasu that Kuronue and I knew, how did Tsukino know of her?

When Hiei answered Kuronue's question it pulled me from my thoughts. "Does it really matter? The mission is just to get The Fox's Rose and take her to Spirit World, isn't it?"

Kuronue frowned. "May it's not all that important to Spirit World but I bet it's important to Kurama's mission."

Before Hiei can reply, I asked, "Did Koenma say anything else?"

Hiei frowned and said, "He thinks found a reason for why The Fox's Rose stole the Forlorn Hope. Apparently, it isn't completely useless if you manage to fix it."

"How?"

"Koenma said that you would need different powerful objects. One that can show a person's desire, another object that can steal life, and many other objects to provide enough power to merge all the objects together."

"That explains why she took the remains of the Mirror of Desire," I muttered to myself.

"But I thought you had to give up your life to make a wish," Kuronue commented. "Why would she go to all that trouble to make a wish and then not live to enjoy it? It doesn't sound like normal demon behaviour."

Hiei shrugged.

"Unless she doesn't plan on making the wish," I thought aloud.

"Then what's the point?" Kuronue demanded to know.

"She'll manipulate someone to make the wish she wants so they take the fall."

His jaw went slack in understanding. "And then she gets her wish and doesn't have to worry."

I nodded.

"What would she wish for?" Hiei asked.

Kuronue and I traded a look. "If she **is** Amaterasu, probably me," I replied.

Hiei looked at me in completely disbelief. "You?"

"She's a stalker and has been stalking him ever since he ran into her on a heist and stupidly allowed her to help him," Kuronue replied calmly.

"In my defence, I was not in my right mind," I added.

Again Hiei gave me a look of disbelief. "What were you stealing?"

"A drink from a bar."

Kuronue nodded in agreement. "Actually, that is hard. The bartenders watch you like hawks if you don't know them well enough to have a tab."

"Who would she be able to manipulate into making the wish?" Hiei asked bring us back to the topic at hand.

"Probably Tsukino-san."

Kuronue stared at us. "Who?"

"Tsukino-san is Tama-san's name," I quickly explained and he nodded in understanding.

"Do you really think that she would be so easily tricked though?" Hiei asked.

I can't help but look over in the unconscious mixed demon's direction. "It depends on the situation, but The Fox's Rose probably has years of experience tricking people."

"And if you haven't given Tsukino-chan enough reasons to hate you yet, I'll buy Shorty some high heels," Kuronue added.

Hiei glared at him but ignored him as I said, "However, if we are going to do anything we have to get out of this cave, and I'll admit I do not like the idea of moving Tsukino-san while she is unconscious and vulnerable."

"Why don't you just leave her here with a guard?" Hiei suggested with a pointed look in Kuronue's direction.

I sighed. "Because I doubt the cave will still be standing if I leave either of you alone with Tsukino-san without anything to amuse yourselves."

Hiei scowled and then said, "So what is your plan then, Fox?"

"As of this moment, I do not have one."

The silence in the cave was almost a solid object by the time Hiei or Kuronue made any sort of noise. Though how the fact that I didn't have a plan was so shocking was beyond me. Since then, between resting and recharging, the three of us have tried to come up with some form of a plan as we wait for Tsukino to awaken or something to happen.

Now, twenty-four hours after our escape Kuronue has grown tired of planning and is just talking and asking questions. As I pause in my report to check on Tsukino once again, he asks, "Do you think that the Fox's Rose could actually be Amaterasu?"

I do not reply until I am sure that Tsukino's breathing pattern has not changed. "It's possible since the only scent that was remotely cat like in the jail was Tsukino-san's."

"So that means that Neichi wasn't really a cat either."

"Yes and Neichi seems to know who I am as well."

"How did you figure that out?"

"While I was fighting him in the cells he called me by name and mentioned the Dark Tournament I participated in."

"So he must have known you somehow then."

I nod. "Yes."

Kuronue is about to ask another question when a fish looking demon pokes its head out of the lake and leaves a piece of paper on the dry floor of the cave before disappearing under the surface of the water once more. Hiei quickly grabs the paper and wastes no time in reading it before handing it to me. "Looks like we didn't give her enough credit," he mutters as I read.

Grimly, I nod in agreement. "Yes, it appears we didn't."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Kuronue frown as he reads over my shoulder. "How did she?"

I shake my head and say, "I don't know, but regardless, we'll get Tsukino-san's soul back. The only question is how."

* * *

The Afterlife?

When I had released my soul's hold on my body, I assumed I would find my way to Spirit World where Koenma would sentence me to jail or to Hell. What I didn't expect to see was darkness and silence. For someone who was used to always hearing something, it was terrifying. The darkness surrounding me allowed my imagination to create many things. More than once, I thought I saw something in the darkness, but each time it was nothing. For a second, I wondered if this was where souls waited until a ferry girl came to get them and take them to Spirit World. This idea did little to comfort me for I was sure that I wouldn't be able to face Botan should she come to get me. I would have rather stayed in this odd blackness than find myself facing a crying Botan again.

However, instead of seeing a ferry girl coming to get me, I just sat waiting in the darkness and silence until I realized that the darkness felt solid. Almost like a fabric. Willing myself to move, I eventually found my way out of the fabric darkness and found myself staring at a wall of glowing yellow glass. The glass seemed to surround the area around me and the fabric completely almost like a sphere container. For a moment, I wondered where I was as I reached out to touch the glass. When nothing moved to touch the glass, I remembered I was a soul and accepted the fact that souls don't have arms or legs quite calmly until the fabric moved on its own accord and tried to wrap itself around me.

I had never known that you would still feel emotions once you were dead. Everyone always made it sound that once you were dead you were numb, uncaring and without a reason to care. Nonetheless, I was quickly learning that a soul could still feel terror as the blackness wrapped itself around the lower half of my soul and felt disgust and shame at the fact that I couldn't stop it even as I tried to hover out of its reach. The fabric felt warm and yet cold on my soul and seemed to be trying to merge itself with me making my soul feel dirty and darkened. I tried once again to move out of the fabric's grip when something else grabbed my soul and pulled me towards the yellow glass walls. The fabric released its grip, and for the first time I saw the silver markings woven into the blackness.

However, it was just a glimpse as I found myself pulled out of the sphere that had been containing my soul. Slowly, I realized that I was being held but by what I couldn't say as the only things I saw close by were the trees and two floating flames, both a dark bloody red.

Dimly, I realized that I could hear voices and watched as the closest flame to me flittered as a voice spoke.

"It looks like her soul is tainting very nicely. I wonder how long until they realize that they only have her body," a voice that sounded strangely like Neichi's said. I say strangely because unlike Neichi's voice, this one was lacking any warmth and was dripping with cruelty.

"They probably already have, knowing Kurama," replied a voice that I had no trouble recognizing as Amaterasu's. From the tone of her voice, I realized she was grinning. "He won't want us to destroy her little soul. Hard to believe that such an ugly creature has such a pretty soul. Almost makes you wonder what his soul is like."

"What is it with you and him?" Neichi asked in confusion.

"I could ask you the same about that little mutt."

Now he was grinning as well. "She looks like she could keep a man happy for at least one night. Probably wouldn't have to worry about kits either and the fact that Kurama likes her makes it even better. Just imaging the look on his face when he learns that his little kitty-pet is tainted is revenge enough for me. Though I wouldn't say no to seeing him in even greater pain."

Amaterasu sounded thoughtful as she asked, "How do you know that he wasn't telling the truth when he said he got to her first?"

"Her scent is all wrong and besides, he doesn't have the guts to do it. Even if they were mates, I doubt that he would have the guts to take any girl no matter how willing. Speaking of that, how do we know that he even wants this mutt? It could just be an act."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much. From what I heard from my spies in Human World, he was more than willing to satisfy her needs and would have if they weren't distracted by something first."

The flame farther away from me darkened. "That's good enough for me but why did you steal her soul rather than just kidnapping her?"

"Unfortunately, it was the only thing I was able to steal without them noticing as well as the idiot entered the third stage. If I hadn't removed her soul from her body she would have died odds are. The stupid batty-cat was too weak to even make it to the fourth stage. Luckily though, if Kurama does care about her as much as he did Mikiku, he'll give into our demands right away. You know how he is about craving purity and rare toys."

I could almost feel Neichi grinning. "That is one thing I can agree with. It's no fun going after the tainted ones. They don't have anything to offer, and the chase is too easy. Pure hearts, though, make a lovely sound when they shatter and become tainted. I can almost hear the Kuro Shi at work corrupting this lovely little kitty-bat's soul."

"To each their own." There was a pause, and I felt my soul being placed back into the yellow sphere and into the hateful clutches of the fabric as it wrapped itself around me while it continued trying to merge with me. As I slowly started to blackout from my attempts to rip myself free I hear once last sentence before I blacked out and the fabric seemed to rip into my soul.

"Let's see if Kurama cares enough to beat the clock."

* * *

I was frustrated, tried, wet, and slowly being pushed to the edge of sanity by Hiei's and Kuronue's fighting. They had been fighting for an hour after we received The Fox's Rose's threat in the form of a letter that was delivered by a fish demon. The terms were simple, I was to hand over Tsukino's body to her in two hours, or else she would start to destroy Tsukino's soul. For every minute I was late, the more damage she would cause. If I appeared with Kuronue and/or Hiei to aid me, she would destroy the soul instantly.

"Why would she want Tsukino-san at all?" Kuronue had waited to know. "It's not like she has some sort of destructive power that can destroy the three worlds."

"Idiot, she wants the girl in order to trick her into making the wish," Hiei had replied.

"Then why only steal Tsukino-san's soul? Why allow us to leave with her at all?"

"Because it was the only thing she could steal," I had replied slowly.

"How?"

I shake my head. "I'm not sure. The only treasure I know of with that power is the Orb of Baast, but that is stored in Koenma's vault."

"Was," Hiei added.

Both Kuronue and I turned to face the fire demon.

"What do you mean 'was'?" I asked slowly. Fear slowly creeping into my mind.

"Koenma only just discovered that it was missing. He sent me to warn you."

"And you forgot to warn us!?" Kuronue shouted. "So now she has everything she needs? She has the Mirror of Desire to repair the Forlorn Hope's ability to show desires and the Jewel of Wrath to merge the whole thing!"

Hiei just grumbled and muttered something while Kuronue continued to try to start another fight.

"And now, the Forlorn Hope won't be able to take life anymore, but it will take souls which are of equal if not more value," I added and I looked over at Tsukino wondering in what condition her soul was in at that moment. "If I hand over Tsukino-san's body, then she'll also have the sacrifice."

Hiei scowled. "We don't hand the girl's body over then."

"It's not that simple. The Fox's Rose is smart; somehow she knows how we think so she planned this so that we would have no way to counter her," I said quietly.

Hiei scoffed. "So you're just going to give up?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm showing you where the advantages lie so that you know what to expect. We can't afford to make any mistakes now. This is our last chance to capture The Fox's Rose."

Kuronue made some sort of noise of complete and utter surprise and well as annoyance. "That's why you are all worried! Because this is your last chance to capture The Fox's Rose!? What sort of mate are you?! Your girl is in danger and the only thing you can think about is a stupid mission!?"

"The mission is of the most importance right now and even if we capture The Fox's Rose, Tsukino-san will still be in danger no matter what we do because of her genes."

"You are a heartless prick you know that?"

"It didn't seem to bother you when we were thieving partners."

"Maybe I grew up and got a conscience now unlike someone who is just pretending to have a human heart now." Kuronue turned his back to me and put his hands behind his head. "Bet your mom doesn't even know about your true nature."

I don't think I ever thanked Hiei properly for stopping me from killing Kuronue. However, even now after an hour has passed, I think Kuronue still is angry with me. This is probably a new record for him as before the longest he could remain mad was only half an hour. On the other hand, I've never gotten into a fight with him involving prioritises. Bats tended to put family and mates above everything so me telling him that the mission was more important than my so called relationship with Tsukino probably crossed a line. Nevertheless, that does not mean that picking a fight with Hiei to annoy me is a justified reaction.

Finally, I am unable to take it any longer and collect Tsukino into my arms. Hiei notices me as I walk towards the opening of water.

"Where are you going?"

"We're leaving now," I tell him as I ready to dive.

"What about the plan?"

I sigh and turn to them. "The only thing that it changing is the time that I'm leaving. We continue as planned. Remember; leave The Fox's Rose to me. Find the treasures and then get yourselves out of the base. I'll meet you back at the old treasure hole. Kuronue, do not try to purposely lose Hiei."

In reply Kuronue just shrugs and turns his back to me, still obvious fuming and Hiei watches me carefully.

'Don't do anything stupid, Fox,' he silently tells me.

'Rest assured, Hiei. That is the last thing on my mind,' I reply equally silent.

'But are you really using your head?'

I don't reply as I dive into the water, nor do I think about Hiei's question. I can't afford those types of distractions right now. Everything has to work perfectly or else.

As I surface, I check on Tsukino to make sure that she is still breathing normally. She is. I continue to swim, checking on her every few minutes, until I reach the edge of the lake. Carefully, so that none of the cat demon guards in the tree branches above see me, I raise Tsukino and myself out of the water. Moving quickly, I duck into the shadows and then run into the surrounding forest towards the meeting point.

I still have twenty minutes left until the deadline so I walk towards the meeting place. As I approach, I catch Neichi's odd scent as well as The Fox's Rose. Soon, I hear voices and stop walking. Making sure that I'm downwind, I crouch in the shadows and listen hoping to hear something that will aid me.

"If he doesn't come, what are we going to do after we destroy the kitty-bat's soul?" Neichi asks.

I see The Fox's Rose smile through the bushes. "Believe me, he will come. He cares about the mutt too much to allow her to be completely destroyed."

"How do we even know that he cared about this kitty-bat? You said that he would gladly sleep with her, but I'm sure he would have done that Mikiku if he hadn't been killed first."

The Fox's Rose nods. "However, with Mikiku he never actually loved her. He would have only slept with her so that he wouldn't have to deal with the inconvenience of the thought that if she died he would be stuck on the lookout for a mate until he finally slept with someone."

I grimace at the truth in The Fox's Rose's words but continued to listen.

"So how do we know that isn't the case here?"

"Because if it was, Kurama would have already taken that girl long ago but he didn't. Therefore he has feelings for her that he is too stubborn to face and won't take her until either she makes him or his inner fox forces him to. After all, that's the only reason he hasn't given in to me yet. He just can't admit the fact that he loves me."

"You sure that's not all in your head? Why don't you just move on and get with some other raccoon who is actually worth your time?"

"Why settle for second when you can have the first place winner?"

I almost gag but managed to control myself. At least now I know that The Fox's Rose is actually Amaterasu and consequently Neichi's true identity.

I pause for a moment to create my Rose Whip before standing up in the safety of the shadows. "Thank you for confirming my theory, Amaterasu-san," I say, "And hello Yasu-san."

At the sound of their true names their disguises fade away. Before me are two raccoon demons. Both have rings of alternating black and yellowish white rings around their tails and small animal ears with black eyes. The only difference between the two besides gender is their hair and their reactions to my knowledge. Amaterasu has long white hair while Yasu has short black hair, and while Amaterasu stares at me in pleasure, Yasu glares at me in hatred.

"Did you bring the body?" Yasu demands.

Slowly, I walk out of the shadows and into the clearing, showing them the unconscious mixed-demon in my arms. "Where is her soul?"

Amaterasu grins at me and walks over to the log where she had been sitting before. From behind it, she pulls out the Orb of Baast. Without a second of thought, she reaches into the orb and removes a small ball of blue sapphire coloured energy. "Looking for this?"

Despite myself, I feel fear for what Amaterasu can do to the soul. That fear grows when she throws it to me. To my relief, the soul does not fall; rather it flies over to its body and slowly sinks into it. That relief soon fades when I notice a black scarf surrounding her throat.

Amaterasu's grin widens as she says, "I said destroy, I never promised that I wouldn't taint her. And remember, I told you I would give it to her. Besides, don't you think she looks cute with it on?"

Yasu is also grinning as he explains. "It's connected directly to her soul, corrupting it from the inside out so don't even think about removing it or the mutt dies. We're the only ones who can remove it unless you do something for us. So what are you going to do now, **Yoko** Kurama?"

Knowing I am trapped, I force myself not to look down at the demon in my arms, knowing that the sight of the atrocious object would trigger a deep rage. I watch the racoon demons with emotionless eyes and ask, "What do you want?"

Sharp fangs appeared over Yasu's lips. "Nothing really. All you have to do is make 'love' to the demon in your arms."

* * *

I wasn't aware of when I actually returned to my body because my soul had been asleep when it merged with my body. I was aware of the absence of the sounds of voices and breathing though and the feeling of warmth against my damp skin. Slowly, I began to wonder why I was damp and why everything was silent.

After a few moments, I opened my eyes and found myself back in my body in the arms of Kurama. Something was wrong though besides the fact that I was still alive. Kurama seemed worried and was holding me close as if he wanted to protect me, which made no sense considering how he viewed me. But then again, nothing by that point was making any sense. Eventually, I realized that he was talking, and I couldn't hear him.

I didn't even think about who he was talking to and was about to ask what was going on, when he looked down at me. His eyes were emotionless, but it was clear something was wrong. It was if he was silently telling me to remain quiet. I obeyed, and he turned around and ran, holding me close as most as if we were mates and running from danger.

Soon he stopped and allowed me to remove myself from his arms. He grabbed my hand and led the way through the forest. The leaf covered darkness closed in on us as we walked, and I tripped often. Kurama continued to silently lead, but would always turn to catch me when I tripped. His grip on my wrist never disappeared.

Finally, we came to a stop in the darkest part of the forest. I asked him what we were doing here but received no answer. After a few moments, I asked where Kuronue was and received the same result. Finally, I demanded to know how he and Kuronue had escaped the base. The reply was not what I expected. Suddenly, I felt his arms wrap about me and mutter words into my ear, but I couldn't hear the actual words. Shock and pain filled me as I realized that I couldn't hear anything. Slowly, almost reluctantly, Kurama removed his arms from around me as if waiting to hear my reply to whatever he said.

My panic and fear grew as I realized I couldn't even hear myself speak when I explained to Kurama that I couldn't hear him anymore. I wasn't sure how he felt about that or if he even heard because his presence had suddenly disappeared. I couldn't even feel or sense his energy. Terror filled me as I blindly looked around in the darkness for a sign of Kurama or of an attacker. I wasn't able to hear anything so if Kurama was hurt or dieing I wouldn't have known. That thought caused my fear to triple.

About the same time that I was close to having a panic attack, the pressure from the hallway returned as did the pain. My stomach felt like someone had just ran a spear threw it, while my hands and arms felt like they had been dunked in acid. I was about to release a small growl of pain, when, out of the black, I was aware of the feeling of something brushing against my lips. Terrified, I pulled away from the thing in front of me but was stopped by a hand on my arm and another around my waist. Thinking it was another demon, I slapped it and then ran. I didn't get very far before I tripped.

Before I could even move, I felt a hand on my arm helping me up and the forest was lit by a dull yellow glow coming from a plant. In the dim light, I saw that Kurama was the one holding my arm. I waited for him to release my arm, but instead he pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me in a hug once more. He held me like that for a moment before he pulled back a bit and kissed me. For once, my curse didn't act up and I was able to appreciate the kiss for what it was without having to worry about complications.

After a moment, I felt a comforting hand slowly pull me closer to him and another hand slowly wrap around my waist and reach downward to play with my tail. Normally, I would have been disgusted and slap him, but for some reason, I didn't care. In fact, I enjoyed the pleasure he was instilling in me and was virtually asking for more.

Kurama seemed to gladly fulfill my desires, and eventually I found myself lying on the forest ground with his tongue in my mouth and him slowly undoing my top. It was about this time that common sense started to kick in. I was kissing Kurama. Kurama was the man who used to be the most dangerous thief in all three worlds. The man, who, I was certain, only wanted me for material gain. The same man who apparently had a mate named Mikiku. The same man who was slowly undoing my shirt. I was kissing Kurama, and it was about to become more than that if I didn't stop him quickly.

The sad part was that for a while, I didn't care. In fact, I almost **loved** the idea of Kurama using me as he willed! Thank goodness, I came to my senses before that happened! Instantly I pulled my mouth away from his and my hands which were originally messing up his hair went to stop his hands. My mind was working overtime wondering what the hell had possessed me to respond to him. For a moment, I entertained the thought that it was just my curse acting up, but I would be lying to myself if I believed that.

Trying to fight off the desire for the pleasure to continue, I told Kurama to stop it and tried to crawl out from under him. About this time a little voice, which always seemed to appear when I was in the middle of an emotional crisis spoke up.

'Why don't you just give in?' she asked.

'Shut up!' I replied angrily in my mind as I tried to push Kurama off of me, but just as Kurama didn't move, the voice continued to talk. Both of them seemed amused by my efforts though.

'He has a mate for crying out loud!'

'You don't know that for sure. All you know is that he marked a girl called Mikiku. According to Kuronue-kun, they never mated so they weren't completely mates. If he wants to make love with you, it's fine,' the voice in my mind sounded smug or conlike. 'Besides he probably doesn't even care about her now. Why don't you allow him some pleasure by giving you some pleasure? And if his mate ever does show up, he'll be the one to take the fall.'

Before I could think anything, I felt Kurama's hands on my shoulders holding me still. If he was talking, I couldn't hear him. Though I doubt he was saying anything important though because within seconds, his mouth was back on mine. I pushed him away from me and told him I wanted to be left alone and to get the hell off of me even though the bliss was covering my mind in a blanket of fuzz again.

He whispered in my ear something that I couldn't hear. I got the message well enough though as he kissed me and started on my shirt again. This time, I used my energy and used my Shiro (ball of light that blinds everything) to get him to let go and get off of me. Since Shiro had lit up the whole forest, I managed to find the path and ran down it. My heart breaking all over again.

I hoped that he wouldn't follow me, because I didn't think I had the emotional control to deal with him. Thankfully he didn't so I didn't have to explode at him. But the physical pain that filled my body had grown worse making it harder to run. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as the emotional pain. Finally, I couldn't run anymore, and kneeled down by a tree using it as support.

"I can't believe I fell for it. I can't believe I allowed myself to hope that he would be different. Just because he acted so different and human, I allowed myself to hope… Why didn't you stop me!? I thought that's what consciences do!" I muttered at myself while screaming the last bit in my mind.

'It was worth the moment of pleasure, wasn't it?' the little voice replied, ever smug.

I shook my head as tears fell. Now my chest felt like it was being ripped open, both metaphorically and literally. 'Nothing is worth that empty sort of pleasure, and he has a mate. How could I allow myself to sink so low as to take him away?!' I thought as I wished that I were dead and in the odd sphere once more.

'All animals get lonely and it's about time you had some fun. He seemed to think so too.'

Another sob escaped my lips. "Nothing makes what I did right. Nothing."

The voice didn't reply and left me to drown in my own guilt. If there had been a lake close by I would have drowned myself. In fact I almost considered going to find one. However the pain was too much so I sat and wept and hoped some demon would kill me.

* * *

**A/N: Ok three things. One: Just seems to me that I'm paying Kurama back for all the evil things he did back in the earlier chapters… or maybe it's just me. Two: I could not think of a Kurama way to describe Hiei's hn. And Three: That's the closest thing to a lime/lemon I'm ever going to write.**

**Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this super long chapter and Kuronue chewing Kurama out as much as I did. Thanks for the all reviews and for sticking with the story this long. The story will be over soon but I'm not sure how soon. And thanks for reading. Hope to see/ hear from you when the next chapter of I'll Show You What I Can Be appears on . See ya!**

**-D101**


	20. The Deal

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap_: Previously on "I'll Show You What I Can Be" Tsukino's soul was stolen by the Fox's Rose. In order to reunite, Tsukino's soul with her body, Kurama had to meet The Fox's Rose. During the meeting, Kurama learned The Fox's Rose and Neichi's real identities but also that Tsukino's soul has been placed under a curse in the form of a black scarf. If Kurama did not obey Yasu's (Neichi) and Amaterasu's order, Tsukino would die. Because of this, Kurama had to obey Yasu's order and led Tsukino to the darkest part of the forest to talk to her. Tsukino could not hear him talking at all due to her lost of hearing. She ran away heartbroken shortly afterwards when she concluded that Kurama only wanted her for pleasure and battled off feelings of guilt because of his actions towards her. Will Kurama ever grow up and stop hurting the girl he loves? Stay tuned and find out in this chapter of "I'll Show You What I Can Be."

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty  
****The Deal**

Getting into Trouble

For almost two hours I lay against the tree, trying to figure out what had happened to me. Eventually, I came to notice the black scarf wrapped my neck growing tighter and a wave of disgust overcame me. Suddenly angry, I tore at the fabric with my claws wishing to be able to breathe clearly once more without that odd fabric scratching at my throat. Despite my attempts to remove the accursed scarf it only became tighter and tighter until I was panting for breath. As I sat trying to regain my strength so I could remove the horrible rag, the voice that had coaxed me into almost giving into Kurama spoke once more.

'Your fox must be looking for you. You should return to him.'

Anger quickly refuelled, I grabbed at the cloth illogically associating it with the voice and tried to remove it once more. 'Let him look then,' I thought savagely as I tried to loosen the grip on my throat. Instead of loosing though, the scarf tightened almost as if it was getting annoyed with me.

'Now now kitten. That's no way to speak to your friend. I'm only trying to help you get the pleasure you so desperately desire.'

Panic filled me when I felt the fabric start to tangle itself around my wings. "Let me go!" I verbally shouted though I didn't hear anything while I watched the fabric reach up towards the branches of the tree. For a moment, I feared that the fabric would cause me to hang myself as I had heard in old stories from bar I had worked at.

The scarf it seemed had other ideas. 'Oh I see now. You're just nervous. He's your first isn't he?' The fabric now started to wrap itself around my legs as well. 'Come on now. Let's go see your man again and this time I'll help you a bit more.'

'And how do you plan to do that?' I asked mostly to keep the scarf talking as I tried to cut it away from my throat so that I would be able to breathe freely.

'By helping you along. It looks like you'll need more than just me amplifying your emotions. Originally I was just going to amp up your emotions and slowly let off so that you could feel your actual emotions but it looks like you'll need even more than that. Don't worry though tomorrow after you've gotten some practice we can try again.' Slowly, using the branches above for support the scarf managed to drag me to my feet.

My panic continued to grow as visions appeared behind my eyes and in my mind of what this scarf had in mind. There was no doubt in my mind that Amaterasu was behind my situation somehow. Only she could be as twisted to do this sort of thing to a person, however there was no denying the fact that Kurama was making full use of the scarf's power over me though. If he appeared in the clearing right then, I wouldn't have been surprised if the scarf tied me to the ground and left me helpless.

Thankfully though, Kurama still had yet to appear, but if I wanted to get away unscratched I would have to move quickly as the scarf had wrapped itself around my legs.

Almost like a loving mother cooing to her child, the scarf whispered in my mind, 'Time to take your first step to adulthood.'

I was about to be forced to take a step when the scarf suddenly released its grip on me. Not prepared for the sudden lack of support, I fell to the ground and found myself at the feet of an annoyed looking raccoon demon with familiar looking black eyes.

* * *

Day Hundred-Fourteen

It is about noon when I arrive at what used to be Kuronue's and my original hideout. After a few moments of searching through the thorny and dark undergrowth, I finally manage to spot the opening to a small cave where Kuronue had demanded I make an entrance to the lair since I was the one digging it. From the outside, one would never have known the treasures that hide inside, because it appeared to only be a hole in the ground. After a few years of successful raids the small dugout became too small so we abandoned it and moved on to bigger and better things. Surprisingly though, years of neglect had strengthened the hideout's defences making it even difficult for me to reach the hidden opening to the lair below. The earthquakes and violent weather that often travelled Demon World had changed the shape of the opening to the cave making it smaller and with more stalagmites and stalactites ready to stab into unsuspecting demons. The plants I had planted when we originally arrived had also grown and seemed to almost welcome me as I struggled to slip into the small opening. If I was able to transform into my fox form or remember where the traps that surrounded the other opening was, I probably would have been able to enter with more ease but since I could do neither I struggled.

Eventually I made my way through a tunnel of many traps both plant like and other until the tunnel I was travelling down enlarged into one where I could walk instead of crawling. Soon after I came to a locked door and pulled out a seed, which quickly turned into a key. After a few tries to get the key to match the lock (ever time we made a new hideout we changed the 'locks'), I opened the door and found myself in a cavern with six doors on the opposite wall. Only one out of the six didn't have a lock, and I walked onto the hallway behind that door. Now that I have dodged three more traps I have come to another door, which I simply knocked on. It opens easily, and I enter into a Western apartment like area.

Off to my right are two doors; both lead to bedrooms. On my left are a kitchen area and three other doors. One of which leads to the now empty treasury, another to a washroom, and the last to a storeroom. I pause for a moment, realizing that the room I have just entered is completely clean and the kitchen obviously used on a daily bases. Now as I enter the room further I notice Hiei lounging on one of the many couches in the room. A small smile comes to my face when I see a small black bat flying around Hiei's head while making quite a racket.

Hiei turns to face me as I walk further into the room and narrows his eyes at me. "It appears that the bat will live after all. What a pity."

The small bat instantly stops making circles around Hiei's head and instead flies over to another couch where it lands and quickly turns back into Kuronue. "What happened? Where's Tsukino-chan?"

"It turns out that Tsukino-san was correct in calling The Fox's Rose Amaterasu," I reply as I sit down on the couch closest to me. "Her and Yasu freely returned Tsukino-san's soul on one condition that I have already taken care of." Not wishing to answer anymore questions I add, "And I see you have been making use of this old hideout, Kuronue."

He grins and says, "When I finally came to my senses this was the closest hideout we had left and the only one I actually still had a key too. Somehow I lost all my other ones."

"You mean you had senses to return to?" Hiei cut in.

Kuronue's eyes widened in mock shock. "How else could I tell if I'm doing a good enough job annoying you?"

Hiei is silent and Kuronue quickly turns his attention back to me. "So where is Tsukino-chan? Why didn't you bring her back here? Don't trust her?"

"It's not so much a matter of trust but a matter of safety."

"So she's safer wherever she is?"

I nod.

"Where's that? I mean if she was with us, she'd have one shortie fire demon, one awesomely skilled bat demon, and a fox demon that wouldn't let her out of his sight protecting her. Where could possibly be safer than that?"

I frown, unwilling to explain exactly what I had done with Tsukino. "She's safer if you don't know. Amaterasu needs Tsukino-san for her plan so if you don't know then you can't give her away. Now did you get the treasures?" I ask.

Kuronue nods and grabs a bag from under the couch he is sitting on before tossing the bag to me. "She had the orb so we couldn't get that, but we got everything else."

I nod as I look over the objects, careful not to touch the Jewel of Wrath. "It would be wise to return this to Spirit World now and return the other treasures once we have captured Amaterasu and obtained the Orb of Baast."

Kuronue frowns. "So it was the stalker?"

I sigh. "For a bat, you sure are deaf."

"For a fox, you sure are vague."

Sensing Hiei's impatience, I add, "Yes it was the 'stalker' and her own stalker."

Kuronue's frown deepens. "You mean Yasu is in on this?"

"Do you recall Neichi?"

He nods. "But I thought he was plant food back in the jail."

Hiei looks back and forth between Kuronue and I before asking, "Who is Neichi?"

"Neichi was a raccoon demon named Yasu in disguise as a cat demon."

Kuronue stands up and stretches before making his way to the kitchen. "I need a drink," he randomly announces, "Want one Kurama? Short-stuff?"

We both reply in the negative and within moments Kuronue is sitting back on the couch with his drink. "Shouldn't we be worried for Tsukino-chan though? After all, she **did** spend three months alone with the guy. He probably knows her inside and out by now. And if Kurama's 'safe spot' isn't so safe, he'd probably be the one to get her for Amaterasu, right?"

Hiei scoffs. "The girl isn't the concern of the mission, and since we have the treasures, Amaterasu is of no threat to us."

Kuronue glares at him. "Maybe not Koenma's, but I think she is Kurama's main concern. Right Kurama?" He turns to me, eyes filled with the unspoken words that I have better agree or else.

"By keeping Tsukino-san away from Amaterasu we'll be able to avoid a hostage situation so you can see Hiei, it's to our advantage to keep Tsukino-san away from Amaterasu as she will waste time looking for Tsukino-san while we ready to capture her," I reply carefully sidestepping around Kuronue's question.

Hiei rolls his eyes before pausing as if he is listening to something far off.

"You are sure that your mate is safe?"

"She isn't my mate."

"Yet," Kuronue adds.

"You don't even know who we are talking about," I snap at him.

"Amaterasu has her," Hiei concludes before Kuronue can reply to my remark.

For some reason, I feel as if I just swallowed an ice cube as a shiver of forbidding runs over my spine and I feel as if I have something painful to swallow in my throat. "Pardon?" I ask, hoping that I had heard wrong.

Hiei rolls his eyes and appears bored as he repeats himself. "Amaterasu has her and is demanding the treasures we have in exchange for the girl."

I shake my head. "That's impossible. Amaterasu isn't a telepath, how could she send you a message like that?"

Hiei winces as if he just heard someone shout in his ear. "By thinking very loudly," he said as he rubs his ear. "It's worse than being around the buffoon," he mutters as an afterthought. He winces once more before adding, "She also says we have an hour or else the mixed breed dies. Apparently we'll find her by sensing her energy when we are close."

"Kurama, are you **sure** that Tsukino-chan is in the safest spot possible right now?" Kuronue asks as he slowly places his drink on the table in the middle of the room. For once, his voice is almost as soft and deadly as mine once was.

Unsure of what else to do, I shake my head. "I don't know." Slowly and calmly, I shoulder the bag with the treasures and turn to the door, in no way showing the worry that is coursing through me. "But I'm going to find out."

Moments later, I arrive at the forest where I had left Tsukino in what I had thought were handle hands. Kuronue takes one look at the forest before shouting, "You left her alone in the middle of a forest in the middle of Demon World with no protection! How the hell is that a safer place than with us?"

I do not reply as I enter the forest, using my sense of smell to guide me. After five minutes of hiking through the darkness and barbed foliage, we arrive at the place where I had left Tsukino.

"The Sinning Tree!?" Kuronue shouts as soon as he sees the tree whose appearance looked like an old woman mournfully looking down into her arms where the victim would be standing. "You used the Sinning Tree on her?! Are you insane!?"

Branches detach themselves from the canopy above us and drip acid from their mouths as they hungrily move towards us only to stop when they encounter my energy. "The Sinning Tree creates more believable illusions than my dream pollen so I ordered it to create an illusion to distract Tsukino-san until we completed the mission. My Death Tree was supposed to stop the Sinning Tree from harming Tsukino-san by attacking it if it started to drain her energy and would also stop any attackers from entering the area." Looking over both my trees I try to figure out the reason for the Sinning Tree's release of Tsukino and find my answer just as Kuronue shouts:

"What in all Three World possessed you to think that would work?! We don't have any idea what the tree could have shown her! For all we know it could have made her think you raped her!"

"That **was** the idea."

"What!?"

"If I had intercourse with Tsukino-san, then the Kuro Shi would release her from its grasp. That was the condition that I spoke of before. As for protection," carefully I reach towards the tree and pull away a few strands of black material with silver markings, "it was working well until the Kuro Shi started to attack my Sinning Tree."

Kuronue pauses in his preparation to shout at me when I hand him the strands. Angrily, he throws them down and stomps them into the ground under his boot. "If I ever get my hands on Yasu, he's going to pay."

While Kuronue is having his hissy fit, Hiei turns to me and asks, "What the hell is the Kuro Shi?"

"It means Black Death and it is a scarf that apparently was created by a demon for her lover. But he jilted her." I pause for a moment. "Are you familiar with the saying 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?'"

He shrugs.

"The Kuro Shi is often thought to be believed that woman's fury incarnated. Any woman who wears it quickly finds their live drained away as they slowly become corrupted and wishing to destroy whoever had last harmed them. Especially if the last person was a male."

Hiei smirks a bit. "Well then it won't be too hard to find the girl then. All we have to do is wait until she comes to kill you as she no doubt believes whatever your tree showed her. Unless Amaterasu actually does have her."

I sigh. "Amaterasu wouldn't make such a claim unless it was true."

Kuronue frowns. "So does that mean we're going to make copies of the treasures then?"

I shake my head. "That will take too long. We'll have to risk it and give her the treasure and then take them back."

Hiei scowls. "I would expect the detective or the oaf to say something like. I expected better from you though Kurama."

Kuronue glares at him once more. "You haven't even heard the whole plan yet. How do you know that Kurama isn't going to say, 'Short-stuff, you and Kuronue hide in the trees while I give them the treasures and at my signal attack'?"

"I'm a mind reader." Hiei gestures to me. "His mind is completely blank."

I frown. "Or maybe I'm just guarding my thoughts." I start to walk into the vegetation once more. "We don't have much time so I'll explain on the way."

* * *

The last thing I remembered before finding myself in a cave tied up to one of those cones that poke up from the floor in caves, was a pair of black eyes glaring down at me before every went black. When I woke up the owner of the black eyes was still glaring at me only she wasn't alone. Another raccoon was sitting at the entrance to the cave looking outside as if he was expecting someone to appear at any second. When the female raccoon realized that I was awake she walked over to me and quickly tied a piece of cloth around my head so that it was in my mouth making a gag. Then she turned her attention towards the raccoon at the mouth of the cave. Since neither of them was facing me, I decided to use my Wings of Steel technique to get free. Unfortunately, the second I tried to use my energy I felt as if someone had turned the volume to max on the world. My energy faded and the ropes around me remained uncut although the volume remained at max. Even the smallest water droplet dropping into a puddle behind me seemed like an explosion that seemed to echo forever in the cave.

I quickly discovered, the voices were little better especially if the speaker had Amaterasu's higher pitched voice. "I wouldn't do that. Your body can't take much more demon energy use without fatal results. If you try, we'll have to steal your soul again," said the female raccoon demon that either was very good at mimicking voices or was actually Amaterasu.

The male raccoon glanced back at me as he replied in a voice I had no problems recognizing as Neichi's, "There's no point talking to her, remember? The kid's as deaf as they make them now that her demon genes are starting to kill her. Wonder why Kurama never bothered to warn her."

The female demon shrugged. "Who knows but if he doesn't hurry with those treasures it won't matter that her genes are only just **starting** to kill her."

"And you are sure that he'll actually come?"

She sighed in exasperation. "Yes I'm sure so don't worry. You'll have your satisfaction soon enough."

He grinned wickedly before standing and stretching. "Best to get moving then isn't it? The fox is no doubt already looking for your aura, and we want him to be fashionable late don't we? However, what about the others?"

"I'll leave it to your judgement but Kurama has to remain alive. If you hurt him at all, I return the favour tenfold."

"Why the heck do you like that guy anyways? I mean he probably doesn't even know your name."

The female waved a hand dismissingly. "You just don't get it do you? As the King of Thieves, he needs a Queen of Thieves."

"But there isn't anything to steal nowadays. Half the demons have gone soft so they are easy to steal from. Everything worth stealing either Spirit World has or is broken. And it isn't like we can cause trouble in Human World anymore either."

She shook her head. "It's only illegal if you get caught."

"And it is very easy to get caught with so many human-loving demons around."

"But that will change very quickly just as soon as our plan is completed. Now are **you** sure you know what you are to do?"

The male raccoon frowned, annoyed by the topic change, but nodded, and she smiled coldly. "Good. Now if you mess up like you did in the jail, I won't hesitate to kill you. Got that? You'll get your revenge all in due time."

He shrugged and muttered, "Why is it the hot feisty ones are always bossy?" before he walked out of the cave.

The female demon paused for a moment to towards me, probably to be sure that I wasn't going anywhere, before she followed him out.

For a moment I enjoyed the slightly quieter surroundings even though water continued to drip and thunder rumbled in the distance before I tried to struggle out of the ropes that bound me. I quickly stopped through as the ropes started to tighten and squeeze the air out of me. The ropes were created from demon energy and would tighten with ever movement I made until I couldn't move anymore. Annoyed, I huffed and sat trying to think of another way to escape. One option was to wait for a rescue although honestly, I didn't like the idea of Kurama finding me bound and gagged for obvious reasons. My other option was to keep struggling until I either suffocated or managed to get free. The final option was to use my demon energy and cut myself lose. However, I had no way of knowing if my Wings of Steel would even work and after my previous attempt, I wasn't too keen on the idea of using my energy again. The raccoons had mentioned my genes slowly killing me but I had no idea what they meant by that. As far as I knew demons didn't suffer from defective genes and I had thought that mixed breeds still counted as demons. It looked like I was wrong though.

Around the time I was considering trying to struggle again I started to notice a far quieter noise coming from above me. A small sizzling noise. Curious, I looked towards the ceiling quickly noticing all the sharp stalactites hanging above my head. After taking a moment to stupidly picture the damage the hanging daggers could cause, I tried to spot the cause of the noise. Finally, I spotted a small hole in the ceiling where a small string was burning, and I caught the soft scent of black powder.

* * *

**A/N: Just a few more chapters to go and this is over. I'm not sure how many to go through so it might only be one or two depending on how I write. So here is your warning that the story is coming to a close. Also random question, does tying a gag into someone's mouth like the way described above actually work? Like can you just not talk or does it just dull the noise somehow? Anyways, thanks for all the review and for reading this long. Hope to 'see' you all at the final chapter of "I'll Show You What I Can Be"!**

**-D101**

**P.S I changed chapter 1 a bit but nothing major. Just the layout of the lair and I think I messed around with chapter 19 but I can't remember what I did.**


	21. You're in an odd mood

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

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_Recap_: Previously on "I'll Show You What I Can Be" Tsukino has been kidnapped again and her time is running out as her genes and a bomb in the ceiling compete to be the leading cause of her death. Meanwhile Kurama, Kuronue, and Hiei are on their way to help her not knowing the trap they are walking into.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty One  
****The Trap**

Well into Trouble

Five minutes passed and I was still in the cave struggling with my ropes. Eventually it dawned on me that I could use my claws to cut myself lose but no matter how much I tried I couldn't move my claws enough to cut the ropes. Also the fact that the pain that apparently was caused by my genes self-destruction had returned. If I ever needed an example to prove that the world had it in for me that would be it since even my own body seemed determined to do me in. However, just because I was stuck in a stalemate didn't mean that the explosives in the wall over my head were having the same problem. If anything, the wick seemed to be burning faster.

Ten minutes later, I could barely breathe let alone move and was considering using my demon energy to escape. Sure that would probably cause my genes to kill me quicker, but it had to be a better death than having a cave collapse onto your head. However, I had no idea what side effects using my energy could cause since Kurama had never even bothered to tell me why I shouldn't use my energy. I supposed he assumed that the fact that he said not to would suffice. Also, the last time I had used my energy, I had experienced a great amount of pain before passing out and having my soul stolen by Amaterasu. Using that fact, I felt it was safe to assume that one of the side effects was great pain and possibly fainting. If fainting actually was a side effect, it would do me no good to manage to escape my bonds only to pass out before I can exit the cave.

One minute later, I stupidly attempted to move once again and found myself gasping for breath behind the gag. A second later, I heard someone walking towards the cave. Thankfully, I still had brains enough not to struggle in a foolish attempt to gain the demon's attention. If I was in Human World, then maybe I would have tried to get some help but I was in Demon world and in Demon World asking for help is basically the same as saying, "Come here and eat me."

The person continued to walk towards the cave though and soon he was standing right in front of me with a huge grin on his face. "Hiya Tsukino-chan," Kuronue said as he crouched down in front of me. "Did the Sinning Tree make you hate me too?"

I winced at the volume of his voice while my mind was completely confused. What in the three worlds was a Sinning Tree? I wondered. Something that grew off your sins? Completely confused, I shook my head and wondered how he had missed the sounds of the explosives above our heads. Maybe my hearing was even better than a pure bat demon now that my genes were killing me. Of course that was assuming that those raccoon demons didn't do anything else to me other than tying me to a rock and waiting for the cave to collapse on me. Behind the gag I tried to form words warning him about the explosives as well as asking what a Sinning Tree is.

Kuronue also seemed confused as he removed the gag allowing me to speak. "Want to try that again?" he asked, still at his usual volume.

Once again I winced but replied to his question, quickly lowering the volume of my own voice when I found even that too loud. "One, there are explosives in the roof of the cave and two what is a Sinning Tree?"

Kuronue had leaned in to hear me and cocked his head to the side. "Why are you whispering?" he whispered back.

"Because loud sounds make my head hurt," I replied.

He nodded and quickly pulled out a knife before he started to saw through the ropes. While he worked his face was grim as if he was annoyed with someone and planning to get revenge somehow. "The Sinning Tree is a tree that creates illusions while slowly stealing your energy. Looks like you got away okay though." His grin returned suddenly as he answered my first question. "And thanks for the warning about the roof but I already took care of that before I entered. How'd you hear that though? It was at least five metres up from here in the mountain above this cave."

I would have shrugged if I could. "I have no idea. When I woke up here I couldn't hear anything but when I tried to use my energy to escape the volume on life went up." My mind returned to what the raccoons had spoken of while they were guarding me. "Kuronue-ku-san-"

"Kun. I'd prefer to be called Kuronue-kun if you don't mind." He didn't explain why but I didn't feel like asking because for some reason it felt more natural to call him Kuronue-kun rather than Kuronue-san. Chu and the others were like that too though so I didn't really question it.

"Kuronue-kun, what do you know about gene destruction?"

He hummed for a second. "Well I know that it can happen to all demons, even with pure breeds."

"How?"

"Inbreeding tends to mess up the genes and then they just get destroyed that's all but it's different for you mixed breeds isn't it? From what I heard you guys go through stages in which different parts of your demon form change colour and stuff."

"Change colour?" It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't seen myself in a mirror since the start of the mission, not even while Kurama and I were staying in the inns. Slightly curious now, I moved my tail into a position where I could see it. To my shock, I saw that my tail was no longer its original red colour. Instead it was a navy blue that almost seemed to be turning into an orangey colour making it look very odd as the two colours mixed. If what Kuronue had said was true about demon forms changing colour being a sign of gene destruction then, Kurama surely knew about it. I thought back to the warnings he had given me about using my energy. "Kuronue-kun, what causes mixed breeds' genes to react in such a way?"

He paused for a moment before replying, "I think it was something about how their energy can't mix very well with their bodies and slowly starts to kill off the body. It's supposed to be very painful from what I hear."

Shock turned into confusion. Kurama obviously had known about that and had warned me but had neglected to inform me of the reason why I shouldn't use my energy. No matter how hard I tried to think of a reason for his actions, I couldn't think of one. Then again, I couldn't really think all that well anyways since my brain was operating on low oxygen because of the ropes.

Kuronue continued to silently work on the ropes while a worried and determined aura seemed to surround him. Somehow it seemed familiar to me and I focused on his face trying to remember where I had seen that expression before. He certainly had never made that face while we were in the jail. Eventually I had it. "You're that boy who saved me when I was little and gave me Inumaru!" I blurted out without thinking because as I had said before, my brain was oxygen deprived. "Why didn't you tell me!?"

He stared at me as if I was insane and paused in his cutting of the ropes. "Pardon?" he asked.

Losing confidence and regretting my outburst, I quickly rushed through my explanation, "Back when I was little, I was cornered by a group of pure bloods but you jumped down and killed them and offered me the money but I said no because stealing was wrong and told you to take it because they couldn't use it and then you gave me Inumaru," I paused for a breathe, "right?"

He was silent as he returned to cutting me loose, and I became even more fearful. As I was rambling I realized that just because I dreamed about something about when I was little didn't mean it actually happened. But if it didn't happen, why was it I could picture the scene so clearly and recognize Kuronue as that bat? I wondered.

Finally Kuronue finished cutting me loose and spoke but it wasn't to reply to my question. Almost muttering, he said, "Come on. We have to move. Kurama and the Midget are probably waiting back at the hideout."

Rubbing my wrists and stretching my wings slightly, I replied, "Who's the Midget?"

Kuronue grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the cave before looking out and asking me if I could fly. I replied in the positive so we took off from the mouth of the cave. High above the ground, the volume of painful noise decreased as wind rushed by my ears as I tried to keep up with Kuronue. Even though he was shouting, I was thankful to find that it didn't hurt to listen to him probably because of the wind.

"Midget is apparently Hiei the Master of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame."

Hoping that I could shout without pain, I replied, "You mean the one that Yusuke-kun battled along side with in the Dark Tournament?"

Kuronue nodded and slowed down before making a dive towards the ground. Diving at a slowly pace to avoid crashing, I followed him. We weaved between the trees for a while until we touched down and Kuronue started moving brushes around trying to find something. Eventually he found an opening in the ground and climbed into it. Hesitating for only a second, I followed and kept close, as I had no doubts that this was the hideout Kuronue had mentioned, and it would have traps all over.

Eventually we come to a huge cavern with six doors on the opposite wall and two demons waiting for us. I had met Hiei in passing just before I left Human World so I recognized him when he looked up as we entered. Kurama, on the other hand, I almost didn't recognize as his human form was starting to show more clearly through his demon disguise. Sea-green eyes watched Kuronue and I as we entered, and his hair was now more red than black.

"So it looks like the bat isn't completely useless after all," Hiei said causing me to wince slightly.

Kuronue thankfully did not reply loudly and only rolled his eyes, causing Hiei to stare in confusion.

"Tsukino-chan has a headache. That's the only reason I'm not jumping to kick your butt," Kuronue muttered before turning to Kurama who stood silently waiting. "I found her in a cave at least ten miles away from where you said Amaterasu was waiting for us. So have you learned your lesson about using plants as protection?"

"At least around the Kuro Shi," Kurama replied before turning to Hiei. "It would be wise to return the items to Koenma before something else happens. When you leave take Tsukino-san with you."

Even though I knew I would regret it, I shouted, "What?!" Moments later my head was pounding. It appeared that Hiei and Kuronue were of the same mind I was though.

"I don't need the extra baggage Kurama," Hiei said before Kuronue made his opinion known.

He grabbed the front of Kurama's clothing and seemed about ready to punch him. "Hang on Kurama," Kuronue said, forgetting to keep his voice low. "I thought you said that if I went and got her, you wouldn't let her out of **your** sight!"

"You must have misunderstood me then," Kurama calmly said. "I had said that I would make sure that Tsukino-san would remain safe. I never claimed that I would be the one protecting her. Besides, we can both agree that Spirit World is the safest place for her can't we?"

"Are you an idiot!? Amaterasu already managed to break into Spirit World and Tsukino-chan can't use her demon energy remember?!"

For a moment Kurama was silent. Slowly he looked over to me and stunned Kuronue into silence. "Well, Tsukino-san, which would you prefer? Remaining here with me and completing the mission or returning to Spirit World?"

I think even Hiei was shocked by how Kurama turned the responsibility of my own wellbeing over to me. Thankfully though, my shock had stopped me from replying without taking time to think it over. To be completely honest, I badly wished to return to Spirit World. I had had enough of Kurama's attitude and confusing ways as well as Amaterasu's plots. Unfortunately, returning to Spirit World would mean leaving the mission in Kurama's hands, which was not a bad thing, but it meant that I hadn't earned my right to remain in Human World. Also, my cat demon blood was demanding that I find Amaterasu and demand to know why she had been trying to manipulate me into seducing Kurama. Kurama obviously hadn't broken her heart in the way she had claimed while pretending to be Mikiku and I was curious to know the real reason. Was she being paid to do it? And who were those raccoon demons who had tied me up in the cave? Not one of my questions was going to be answered if I left.

After looking over the situation one last time, I replied, "If possible, I would prefer to remain in Demon World and complete the mission."

I had mistakenly expected a reaction from Kurama but all he did was nod and tell Hiei to hurry to Spirit World before he disappeared behind one of the doors. Hiei disappeared right after that leaving Kuronue and I alone in the room with the six doors. For a moment the room was silent until Kuronue said, "Well I guess that means I'm sleeping on the couches tonight."

I asked him what he meant by that and he replied, "The lair only has two bedrooms and since Kurama's room has demon-eating plants in it that will eat anyone other than him, my room is the only open one."

"I don't mind sleeping on the couches," I replied while rubbing my forehead, trying to ease the pain from the loud noises.

Kuronue shrugged and moved towards the door Kurama had disappeared behind. "It's fine and besides, it's better that we have someone who can defend the lair sleeping in the main room. Anyways, we might as well as get you some pain killers first. Then you can make up your mind." I followed him through the door and found myself in what could be described as an apartment with dirt walls and no windows. Kuronue pointed out which door led to Kurama's room and warned me once again not to enter before showing me the storeroom and the bathroom where he tossed me a leaf with instructions to eat it.

While I tried to eat the leaf (it was very chewy and stringy), Kuronue and I sat on the couches and talked. The first thing Kuronue asked me about was why I had chosen to remain in Demon World. "Kurama must have given you a thousand reasons to want to avoid him so why didn't you when you had the chance?" Kuronue had asked when I asked why I wouldn't want to stay in my home world.

Frowning and still trying to devour the leaf, I said, "If I left to go to Spirit World now I wouldn't have earned the right to return to Human World since the only thing I've managed to do is cause problems."

Kuronue frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"Amaterasu managed to trick me and because of that, she was able to get away many times either because I was a distraction or failed to report to Kurama-san."

"However you also managed to stop Amaterasu from having her way with Kurama too."

I tilted my head to the side. "When did that happen?"

Kuronue grinned. "Because Amaterasu was busy trying to use you to her advantage, she wasn't able to spend as much time around Kurama. For example, if you hadn't been at the cat demon base and if Amaterasu didn't have to keep an eye on you, she probably would have attacked Kurama while he was knocked out after her healing him."

I blinked. "I thought Amaterasu just wanted revenge on Kurama-san for him breaking her heart or something."

Kuronue shook his head. "Nah the only girl Kurama was ever 'with' was Mikiku. Amaterasu's just some obsessed raccoon demon. Somehow she got it into her head that Kurama loves her but is unable to come to terms with his feelings. Ever since then she's been trying to get him to 'admit' his true feelings towards her. Even attacked Mikiku at one point because she heard about them readying to be mates, that's probably why she's going after you now."

I frowned as an image of the female raccoon demon that had been in the cave with me appeared in my mind. "But how did she manage to look like Mikiku-san if she is a raccoon demon?"

"Illusions are Amaterasu's speciality. Personally, I'm amazed that she hasn't taken your form to try to seduce Kurama yet. Speaking of seducing people though, what **did** the Sinning Tree show you?"

I took my time trying to chew on a piece of the leaf as I tried to think of how to avoid the question. Eventually I had to speak because my mouth was empty so I replied, "Just a demon trying to attack me."

Kuronue frowned but nodded in pity. "So it **did** have Kurama try to seduce you?"

Unsure of what do to, I nodded.

Kuronue sighed and said, "Well at least you don't have to worry about Kurama ever doing that in real life. As I said before a rock is more of a womanizer than he is. The only things you have to worry about when you are around him are if he is planning to kill you or how he acts when he is drunk. In any case, I admire your courage in putting up with him up to this point and not ditching the mission even though he certainly has given you enough reasons to want to."

"Why do you admire my 'courage'?"

"Because you had no way of knowing Kurama's personality when you made your decision and if I recall, when you first met he wasn't acting much better than he is now. Also the fact that you are still putting up with him even though you both had that huge fight is something too." Kuronue suddenly leaned forward and muttered in my ear, "Also don't trust what Kurama says too much. He doesn't really think of you as a whore. That's how he views Amaterasu and what's why he refuses to give in to her." He paused before continuing at his previous whispering volume, "That and he doesn't like her."

I frowned but was silent as I finally finished the last bit of the leaf. Kuronue quickly noticed and showed me his room. I tried to get him to let me sleep on the couches but the leaf was making me drowsy so eventually I allowed Kuronue to win and curled up under the covers quickly falling asleep and falling into dreams of a past life once more.

* * *

Day Hundred-Fourteen

Shortly after Hiei leaves for Spirit World, I return to my room where I light a lamp and report the day's events in my journal that somehow has managed to survive this mission. Before I can complete my entry for today, I hear a knock on the door. Once I am sure my plants will not attack, I allow the person to enter and see that it is Kuronue. He sits down on my bed and asks, "Why didn't you tell her that using her energy would kill her?"

"Tsukino-san barely trusted me before we went on this mission if I had told her she would have completely ignored my warning and assumed that I was lying. If anything she probably would have used her energy more just to annoy me."

"And you didn't expect her to do that if you just ordered her not to without any reason."

I shrug. "I had hoped that she would remember my warning better because she would be wondering what reason I could have for telling her not to use her energy."

"Well that failed."

I nod and return to my papers waiting for Kuronue to leave. A minute has passed and he still has not left. Instead he asks, "Do you think that Tsukino-chan might be Mikiku-chan?"

I shake my head. "I doubt it. Tsukino-san told me she is only twenty-six. Mikiku-chan would be at least hundred times that age by now. Why do you ask?"

Kuronue is silent for a moment before he says, "If Mikiku-chan did lose her memory about us she wouldn't remember at least two thousand years of her life, right?"

I nod. "That doesn't mean that she and Tsukino-san are one in the same."

Kuronue nods. "But she also knew about Amaterasu."

"I'm sure that Amaterasu has run into quite a few cat bat demons and mistaken them for Mikiku-chan."

"Tsukino-chan also knew about the night in the alley Kurama."

I frown. "Which night?"

"The one when I first met Mikiku-chan and gave her Inumaru. She even could recall some of what was said. How could she do that if she isn't Mikiku-chan? Besides I haven't been able to find anything about Mikiku-chan since I came back to my senses. It's as if she had vanished and you have to admit, they have the same voice. I'm willing to bet even the same scent."

I shrug. "I wouldn't know. I haven't smelt Mikiku-chan's true scent since I first met her. She started wearing that wild rose perfume right after that."

Kuronue nods. "Yeah because you said you liked that scent on her, and she thought her original scent made you sick. But if they are the same person, does that mean you two are mates?"

I shake my head. "No. When I died, not only was the bet completed, the mating became invalid. If Tsukino-san is Mikiku-chan and if she did wish for us to be mates again, we would have to start all over. But I doubt that would happen unless Tsukino-san and Mikiku-chan were two different people."

"Why?"

"I doubt that Tsukino-san can even look at me without thinking that I'm planning something to harm her."

"That's your own fault but if they were the same person, do you think that Tsukino-chan would stop existing as she is and go back to being Mikiku-chan?"

I pause before replying and say, "You're in an odd mood tonight Kuronue."

To my surprise, he is staring at me without emotion and says, "I'm just trying to make sure that neither of my little sisters will get hurt again. I'm sure that you care about Tsukino-chan but I thought you cared about Mikiku-chan too. So I'm warning you, if you don't think you can give up your attachment to Mikiku-chan don't get involved with Tsukino-chan. We have no way of knowing if they are one in the same or not. And I don't want Tsukino-chan and you to get together only to break up if Mikiku-chan shows up and wants you back as a mate or break up if Tsukino-chan turns back into Mikiku-chan. Got that?"

I nod and watch as Kuronue moves from the bed and towards the door. Once he is left the room is silent, and I complete my entry for today before pondering over what Kuronue had spoken to me about as I stare at the wall before me.

I consider the fact that it is true that in the past I was determined to win the bet and in attempting to meet my goal changed Mikiku to match my tastes. However, because of that and the fact that I truly had no idea what love was at the time, I had found myself unable to adapt to the mated life as it seemed fake to me. Honestly, I have no desire to return to that life so if Tsukino and I were to become mates, I doubt that I would ever leave her side for another woman.

Idly, I speculate about what mated life would be with Tsukino, assuming of course that she could ever forgive me for the many things I have done to her. Most likely, we would not have children due to Tsukino's parentage but if the feelings I have for her are love and not just lust then perhaps it could work. After all, my human parents brought me up in such an atmosphere before my father died. So if I actually did love Tsukino odds are I would not leave her to return to Mikiku's side no matter what because since I had died I was no longer tied to her in any way.

Finally I consider the possibility of what could happen if Tsukino was actually Mikiku. I doubt I would be able to feel the same way about Mikiku as I would Tsukino in this make-believe situation. However, because of the bet and the fact that I had no care for a mate, I never really bothered to get to know Mikiku on a personal level. That was probably another reason why the mating felt false to me. In any case, all of this would depend on Tsukino's ability to forgive me and whether I actually care for her on that level or not. Like Kuronue, I too have no desire to see either Mikiku or Tsukino harmed.

With a yawn, I lay on my bed and try to sleep and come to the conclusion that all of us will find out soon enough because if Tsukino and Mikiku are the same person she'll be regaining her memories soon. Now that there are no more thoughts to plague me, I slowly fall to sleep all the while fully alert for signs of trouble.

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**A/N: I felt that was a nice wrap-up for the chapter with Kurama considering all the possible things that could happen with him and Tsukino. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for reading and reviewing and I hope to see/hear from you at the next chapter!**

**-D101**


	22. Where Is She

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

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_Recap:_ Kuronue finds Tsukino in the cave and brings her back to the hideout where Kurama gives her the choice to leave for Spirit World or complete the mission. She chooses to remain and after a short talk with Kuronue retires for the night. Kuronue then talks with Kurama about the possibility of Tsukino being Mikiku before he too goes to rest.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty-Two  
****Trapped**

Out of Trouble… For Five Minutes

I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour when the sounds of unfamiliar footsteps awoke me. Almost silently the sound moved around the room I was in. When I was conscious enough to separate the echoes from the original cause, I realized that the footsteps had stopped. Above my head, it seemed almost as if there was an oppressive silence and I held my breath, listening.

Seconds passed and static popping in my ears was the only noise I heard. Illogical fear started to grow in my mind as I sucked in tiny breaths of air. Had I imagined the footsteps or was there someone in the room watching me? The thought caused a fresh wave of terror to wash over me.

Almost hyperventilating from the small gasps of air I was taking in, I forced myself to conceal my aura as Yusuke and Kuwabara had taught me. If it was Kurama in the room, he wouldn't be able to see me and would believe I had fallen back to sleep unless he used his nose. Then I was toast. I knew that Kuronue had said that Kurama wasn't interested in that sort of thing, and even I had to admit that that situation would be out of character for him. Nevertheless, the dark had placed me back in the same mind state I had been while trapped under the Sinning Tree's influence (minus the Kuro Shi's affects). I was terrified, weak, in pain, blind, and just waiting for someone to grab me.

Silently, I forced myself out of the bed and towards the door. Once my back was pressed against the door, I readied to summon my energy to create my Shiro attack. The stabbing pain in my chest and the sudden pressure on my body quickly stopped my preparations. In my fear, I had forgotten about the fact that my genes were killing me. Now the dark and silence terrified me even more because there was nothing I could do to dispel it. Even opening the door was a risk. If Kurama had locked it after he entered then my opening it would alert him to my presence. I stood there for a minute before I managed to get a grip on reality. Sooner or later the attacker was going to make it to the bed and notice that I wasn't in it. Once it noticed that I wasn't in the bed, it would search the room, eventually finding me.

I forced myself to grab onto the doorknob and quickly opened it and silently creeped through, locking the door behind me. Hands still on the door, I silently hoped that the soft light from the plants in the main room hadn't alerted the attacker to my leaving the room. It felt like a lifetime passed but the room was still silent. Nothing moved. Maybe it was all in my head. Slowly, my muscles started to unknot and my sighed deeply. Relief washed over me so strongly that I actually felt safe for a moment.

"What are you doing?"

If I hadn't been concealing my aura, I'm willing to bet that I could have created a blast of light bright enough to light up a whole city. Of course that would have happened after I had a heart attack. Even a voice at normal volume probably would have killed me but my hearing had increased the volume by a fifty decibels. Relief completely gone now, I turned to reply to the person who just about killed me. My words died in my throat when the lights suddenly turned on, blinding me. I blinked and noticed that Kurama was standing before me. Thankfully he was wearing a shirt so I didn't have to wonder if my heart was beating erratically because of my mini-heart attack or my curse. However, talking with Kurama was not high on my list of to-dos so I looked over to the couches where Kuronue was sleeping, hoping that he would wake up. He didn't.

Kurama noticed where I was looking and muttered, "If I sleep like a rock, he sleeps like a mountain."

Now unable to count on Kuronue for protection, I turned my attention to Kurama. "Why are you still awake?" I asked. It appeared as if I had returned back to my old stand-by of promising to listen but not promising to be helpful. Oddly enough, instead of feeling immature about my behaviour, I felt better. Over the course of the trip, I felt as if I was slowly losing my sense of self and being replaced by someone who acted as others (Kurama) wanted her to act.

Kurama seemed to notice as well and motioned towards the kitchen with his hand. Surprisingly, he seemed to have a small smile on his face or maybe it was the lighting. "I was on my way to the kitchen to get a drink when I noticed you over by your door. I hope that doesn't mean Kuronue's been keeping demonic hybrids in his room."

I shook my head and tried not to get dragged into his mood. He was in far too good of a mood to not have a reason for it considering how I had refused to return to Spirit World. As a precaution, I took a step away from him and bumped my left arm against the door. A small stabbing pain went up it causing me to grab it and feel a wetness cover my hands in a red liquid. I heard rather than saw Kurama move towards me, and tried to wave him off. "I'm fine."

Kurama was silent and the small smile that might have been on his face disappeared as he moved towards the kitchen. "I'll get the first aid kit."

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me and followed him. He sat me down at the table and disappeared into the bathroom. A minute later he remerged with a small box with traditional Human World bandages and bottles of what I assumed to be plant mixtures. Silently, he handed me the box and went over to the sink, probably to get himself something to drink as I could hear the tap running. While he did that, I cut myself some bandages and went to work trying to place them on my arm. Fortunately, it was on my lower arm so it was easier to see and wrap. Kurama moved back towards the table just as I finished putting the leftover material back into the box, and silently, I waited for the questions that were sure to follow.

* * *

Day Hundred-Fifteen

As I finish making tea from a recipe Yusuke had found in a Spirit World cookbook, I silently look over towards the table. It appears that Tsukino has just finished wrapping her arm, but she does not intend to return to her room. Pouring the tea into two mugs, I walk back over to the table and place one in front of her. Slightly amused by her attempts to appear uninterested as she studies the mug out of the corner of her eye, I explain about the recipe Yusuke had found.

"Apparently, it is able to calm violent auras," I murmur before taking a sip of the tea and regretting it. The tea itself does not taste bad, but its aftertaste causes me to reconsider taking a second sip. Fortunately, Tsukino does not notice as she asks, "Why would I have a violent aura?"

I struggle to take another sip. "Hiei has already informed me of your knowing about your genes' self-destruction."

Tsukino was in the act of taking hold of her cup when I replied and is now glaring at me over the rim of her cup. "Why didn't you warn me that if I used my energy I would be killing myself?"

"Would you have believed me?"

She is silent and swallows some of the liquid in her cup. Seconds afterwards she grimaces but says nothing as she takes another sip.

Once again I ask her why she was creeping out of her room, but she is silent and continues to drink. After every sip, I can feel her aura calming, and the stress on her body weakening. Perhaps this tea will at least allow us to gain time to search for a more permanent solution to her genetic problem.

"It is possible that someone could be walking over the roof of the lair?" she asks, as she finishes her drink. Her aura now fully calmed.

I shake my head. "Above the lair there are only demon-eating plants and traps. Any demon who steps foot in the area would be quickly eaten before they touch the ground."

She nods and starts to take a sip out of her cup only to pause. From the angle I am sitting at I can tell that there is no more tea in her cup. However, she has not made any move to return to her room. I drink the last of my own tea and add, "Why do you ask?"

Tsukino is silent before she says, "I thought that I heard something walking around in the room where I was sleeping, and I thought that maybe they had entered through the roof."

I frown and move to my feet. "There is a possibility of rain dripping through the roof and making noises like footsteps, but with your hearing as it is now, you would be able to tell the difference, correct?"

She nods, and I walk towards the door to Kuronue's room. "So that means that either you were dreaming or somehow something got past Kuronue."

Tsukino frowns a bit as she moves to stand as well. "But I thought that Kuronue sleeps like a mountain."

"Only if there isn't danger around. As soon as he senses danger he wakes up instantly. However," I retrace my steps and grab the silver whistle that hangs on a hook over the sink, "it would be wise to have other means of waking him just in case."

We both move towards the door and silently I unlock the door and enter. The first thing that strikes me is the smell. Instantly, I take a step back and try to regain control of my gag reflex as I hold my nose shut. Tsukino does not seem to notice the smell as she enters the room behind me and stares at me oddly as I try not to throw up.

"Are you alright?" she asks after a moment.

I reply quickly and just as quickly regret. Opening my mouth only caused me to want to throw up more.

Tsukino continues to stare at me oddly before noticing a soccer ball sized sphere over in the corner of the room. She goes to pick it up, but I stop her as I slowly get used to the smell in the room. "Unless you know what that object is, I would not recommend picking it up. Kuronue and I stole many items over the years, most of which were cursed in some way."

She rolls her eyes and pokes the red sphere with her shoe causing it to roll a bit. "So it's not only girls that you show stupidity with," she mutters thinking that I cannot hear.

I decide not to question her but instead reach for the whistle. Just as I'm able about to blow into it, Kuronue falls off the couch. He stands up and looks towards us as he rubs his head, which he most likely landed on.

"You know if you guys are going to do that you could at least do it in your own room and let me have mine back, Kurama," he says as he stretches. "That's the third time that I've fallen off the couch."

"Congratulations," I reply as I put the whistle into my pocket. "Kuronue, could you kindly tell us what you left in your room for millenniums that caused this horrible smell?"

Kuronue frowns and walks over to the room before backing up and coughing. "Damn, that smells worse than grand-bat's feet!" he exclaims with a grin. "Must be hell for you fox-boy. Why don't you indulge in a more pleasurable scent your own room? Perhaps of another person?"

To my immeasurable relief, Tsukino shows no signs of embarrassment and appears to not understand Kuronue's not so subtle implication. Sadly, Kuronue notices this and starts to make more suggestions.

"Tsukino-chan, why don't you help Kurama out? I'm sure that one of your-"

Turning my back completely to Tsukino, I glare at Kuronue and demand to know the cause of the foul odour.

To my pleasure, Kuronue almost cowers at the sight of my glare and says that he has no idea what could cause a smell like that. "The first thing I did when I got back here was clean," he explains. "If anything was going to smell that bad, then I would have spotted it then."

Annoyed, I rub my eyes and try to figure out what could have caused such a stench. It was familiar to me, but I wasn't sure where I had smelt it before. Tsukino's scent had mixed with it, changing it slightly, and making it harder for me to recognize. There also appears to be another scent mixed with it but it is too strong for me to tell.

As I try to figure out what's happening, Kuronue turns to Tsukino and says, "How come you aren't on the ground retching? I thought that all your senses had been heightened."

She shakes her head and says, "Only my hearing has been affected."

Kuronue frowns. "Still though, a smell like that would make the dead rise from the grave."

She shrugs. "I don't really know. I didn't notice it when I first woke up, and honestly, I don't see why you two are making such a big deal of it. It doesn't smell that bad."

"You probably don't have a sharp nose then."

"I can smell as well as a human if that's what you mean."

He nods with a grin. "That explains that then. Humans tend to miss this smell often. Probably just smells like some sort of sugary sweetness to you right?"

She nods. "Isn't that what it smells like to you too?"

"Only a thousand times stronger. I'm amazed fox-boy didn't pass out from it. Back in the old days, demon hunters used some sort of stink bombs that smelt like this to hunt down demons with strong noses. The demons would pass out and then zap, you're dead."

"What did the bombs look like?" I ask as I give up trying to remember why the scent was so familiar. By now the scents are too mixed for me to accurately guess what caused them.

"Usually small spheres, about this big." Kuronue moves his hands so that they are only a yen's length apart. "Usually white but sometimes they were coloured. At least that's what grand-bat said. By the time I came around, Spirit World and the Shinbo were taking care of demons in Human World so they weren't using the old methods anymore."

Tsukino nods and looks over to the odd sphere we had spotted in Kuronue's room. "Like that?" she asks as she points towards it.

Kuronue shakes his head. "Too big. Besides no one know how to make them anymore."

I frown. "Didn't you use one on me during a heist?"

"My great grand-bat passed that down and besides, how I was supposed what it was doing to do? I thought it was just going to explode and knock out the guards."

I shake my head. "So what is that sphere in your room? I don't recall ever seeing it before."

Kuronue shrugs. "Neither have I. I thought Tsukino-chan had brought it with her."

Tsukino silently shakes her head before looking back at the sphere. "So we have no idea how this got in here?"

Neither Kuronue nor I reply as we enter the room. Once again we are assaulted by the stench, and I quickly cover my nose. "Whatever the sphere is, the smell is coming from it."

"Think it's got a motion sensor on it?" Kuronue asks.

"Most likely."

"Does that mean it will attack us if we try to pick it up?"

"Possibly."

Tsukino joins us in the room, and the sphere lets out another burst of scent. "How did get in here? I didn't have any bags with me when I came in here."

Kuronue and I both scan the ceiling for signs of weakness.

"There's a small hole there," Kuronue says as he points to a spot over by the far wall, "but it's too small for that thing."

"Unless it wasn't originally this big," I reply. Suddenly, the sphere grows to at least double its size and lets out a burst of poisonous-smelling air. The world suddenly seems to tip on its side, and I close my eyes. When I open them, I slowly realize that I'm on the floor with Tsukino shaking my shoulder. She lets out a sigh and mutters, "Thank goodness," once again forgetting my sensitive hearing.

Feeling unusually drained, I murmur, "Where's Kuronue?"

"Still knocked out," she replies. "After the sphere grew both of you passed out. Then it shrunk again and disappeared through the hole in the ceiling. You started to transform back into your human form again as well."

I frowned. "How did you wake me up then?" At that moment, I notice the small cuts appearing on her arms. Before she can hide them, I grab her wrists and move her arms so I can see them. "You shouldn't have done that," I mutter, feeling more of my human emotions, such as worry and fear, growing stronger and warding off the numbness that accompanies my demon form.

Tsukino wrenches her arms out of my grasp and looks over to where Kuronue is snoring. "How will we wake him up?"

Once again I reach for the whistle and blow into it causing a high frequency noise to echo off the walls. Kuronue quickly awakes but is slow to rise and even slower to understand what had occurred when Tsukino explains. Eventually, his mind returns to its normal speed and he asks, "So now what? Whoever made that ball thing probably thinks that we are knocked out and on their way down here."

I nod. "Judging by how none of us are able to battle and win, the wisest option is to retreat. Is the back exit still in working order?"

Kuronue grins. "It is if you have the key."

Without a further reply, I help Tsukino to her feet as she is starting to feel the effects of the third stage once again. She starts to follow Kuronue to the storeroom where the back exit is located but quickly finds herself having problems walking. It appears as though her arms are not the only limbs affected by her method of waking me.

Silently, I move behind her and gather her in my arms before continuing after Kuronue who looks over his shoulder with a grin. I pointedly ignore him and try to ignore the small whimpers Tsukino is making as her pain increases. At the first available moment, I'll have to make her more of that tea, as it is the only thing that seems to work on her aura at this time.

We reach the back door within seconds but are surprised to find it blocked instead of locked. Standing in our way are Yasu and Amaterasu, both looking livid. Thankfully, we spot them before they spot us. We duck behind a tower of crates filled with spare weapons and wait for the demons to pass us. Tsukino's aura calms enough for her to hide it, and she slips out of my arms before moving to get a better look of our enemies. Reluctantly, Kuronue and I allow her to do so as she is smaller than we are and blends in better since none of her clothing reflects the light of the glowing orb Yasu and Amaterasu are using. Tsukino crawls back to where Kuronue and I are sitting and sits next to me as we wait for the raccoons to move. It is only because of how close she is to me that I notice that her aura is starting to worsen and rebel against Tsukino's attempts to keep it contained.

I turn to Kuronue and motion with my hands that I will use myself as bait so that he can get Tsukino to safety. After Kuronue nods, I also hand him the recipe for the tea so that he will be able to help Tsukino if I am unable to meet with them as soon as I wish. Trying to keep as low to the ground and as silent as possible, I move towards the edge of the crate and am about to make a dash to the other side of the room when Tsukino grabs my arm. Milliseconds later, Yasu and Amaterasu dash towards the living area of the lair. If Tsukino hadn't stopped me, I probably would have run into the two demons. I turn to ask Tsukino how she knew that Yasu and Amaterasu were going to move, but before I can, she points to a mirror on the ground. It is now reflecting the image of an open back exit.

However, we make no move towards the door. Amaterasu is a master of illusions. We have no way of knowing whether the demons we saw run towards the living area were illusions or flesh and blood. With no other choice, we wait. After a minute, another group of Yasu and Amaterasu run pass us but we still do not more. Finally, the two raccoons appear between two crates and start to walk towards us, carefully looking down the hallways created by the piled crates.

Once again I motion to Kuronue with my hands as Yasu and Amaterasu move closer to our hiding place. It takes a moment for him to understand, but once he does, he is quick to act. Carefully, he gets onto his stomach and reaches towards the mirror. Painstakingly, he slides the mirror out of Yasu and Amaterasu's view before pocketing it. Meanwhile, I grab Tsukino around the waist and climb up the side of the crate, timing my movements to match the raccoon's footsteps.

Kuronue joins us and we watch from on top the crates as the raccoons draw closer and closer to us. Yasu pauses and sniffs the air as they stand before the crate we sit upon. Despite myself, I cannot help but feel the thrill of avoiding capture as he passes us by. They disappear into the living area, but we still do not move until we are sure that flesh and blood passed us and not illusions. Even then we are still cautious. Kuronue flies over the area before landing in front of the door and looking out. Once we are sure the only threats are in our living room, I motion for Tsukino to follow Kuronue. She does so and I jump down from the crates before running towards the door myself.

Carefully, we walk down the tunnel, keeping an eye out for any traps we had forgotten about. Thankfully, it appears that Yasu and Amaterasu had sent off most of the traps as they entered making the trip easier. However, I find myself far from ease as I constantly listen for signs of a threat. Kuronue feels the same way as he constantly looks over his shoulder for danger. Unfortunately, our suspicions are not without reason. Moments after we enter a cavern Tsukino spots a small sphere rolling down a tunnel towards us. Moving out of instinct more than anything, I push Tsukino out of the way and shield her when the sphere grows to boulder-sized as it enters the cavern and explodes. Within seconds, the whole room smells of eggs, and the air feels heavy in our lungs.

Only by Kuronue tripping and finding the air closer to the ground breathable do we manage to escape without passing out. As we crawl up the tunnel, we eventually reach breathable air and are able to stand again. Knowing that the boulder was a signal, we move faster up the tunnel and try to consider any other exits we could take that would allow us the advantage over our hunters. Neither Kuronue nor I can think of one so we continue on our way.

We are half-way down the tunnel when another trap not created by Kuronue and I is triggered. As we pass through another cavern, Kuronue abruptly stops and stares at the tunnel before us. Tsukino and I both pause as well, wondering what has caused Kuronue to act in such a way when he lunges towards me. In one hand he carries a sword that he aims to attacks me with, and with the other hand he throws his chained scythe towards Tsukino.

She dodges easily and stares at Kuronue as he throws his scythe at her once again while trying to skewer me at the same time.

"Kuronue-kun!" she shouts as she dodges again. "Stop it!"

Her pleads fall on deaf ears as he continues to try to fight a battle on two fronts. I can clearly see that she is tiring at a faster rate than normal and realize that unless I can disarm Kuronue soon, he could do something he would regret. Using some of the little spirit energy I have, I create a sword from the Binding Vine to parry Kuronue's attacks. Jumping back from a blow, I position myself in front of Tsukino and block Kuronue's incoming attacks.

Behind me I can hear Tsukino panting as she struggles to inhale, and I hope that her genes aren't the reason for her exhaustion. Kuronue seems to have no such thoughts though as he recklessly aims blow after blow towards us. Eventually though, he will make some form of mistake, and we will be able to counterattack then.

His scythe almost manages to get past my sword, but at the last moment, I swat the blade away causing it to cut into a pillar of stone instead. Kuronue glares at me before abandoning his weapon and charging towards me with his sword. I easily ward off his blows until he purposely allows me to cut into his arm. Despite my demonic nature, I felt shock and pulled my blade back. Instantly, I regret it as Kuronue ducks around me and grabs Tsukino. He places the blade at her throat and grins at me with no reason in his eyes.

"Put down the weapon," he declares.

I hesitate and he moves the sword from Tsukino's neck to her side and cuts in. I lay the weapon on the ground, carefully watching him. Somehow Yasu and Amaterasu managed to gain control over Kuronue, and if we don't figure out a way to stop him, he may actually kill Tsukino.

Kuronue nods in amusement and moves the blade back to Tsukino's throat as he watches me. "Such a shame that Mikiku isn't here to see you act so noble over another batty-cat. The only time she ever had a knife at her throat you just sat there and laughed."

I say nothing because I cannot say anything.

He doesn't seem to notice though and moves his free hand as if he was shaking off dust. "You wouldn't have cared if she had died would you?" Instead of his tone changing into anger as it usually would have, Kuronue continues to speak smugly. "She was just fun for the moment."

Originally, I had believed that he was being controlled, but I wasn't sure if he was fully under control or if his anger was being manipulated. Now I am sure that Kuronue is being controlled rather than manipulated. If he were manipulated, Kuronue would have attacked me in anger by now rather than speaking so smugly. "You know if that is true or not," I reply.

Kuronue nods and looks down towards Tsukino before moving his hands towards her clothing. "Ah," he says as he turns his attention to me. "No moving."

I hadn't realized that I had taken a step forward.

The thing controlling Kuronue turns its attention back to Tsukino but leaves her clothing alone. Instead it grows claws and holds them threateningly over her stomach. "I could kill her right now, but where would the fun be with that? She's a very fun girl you know. A lot more fun than Mikiku, isn't she, Kurama?"

Despite my efforts, a small growl escapes my throat in reply.

"What was that?"

I do not reply. Tsukino, taking advantage of Kuronue's attention being displaced, slides down to the ground and tries to get away from him. Her wounds make her slow, and before she can escape, Kuronue grabs her arm.

"It looks as though I won't be able to play as long," Kuronue mutters before throwing Tsukino towards the far side of the cave. She hits the wall and slides down. Seeing Kuronue starting to lunge towards her, I move as well. However, I barely have moved before a wall grows from the ground, blocking my view of Tsukino. Instantly, I destroy the wall with the use of my plants, but Tsukino is nowhere to be seen.

In carefully controlled movements, I turn my attention towards Kuronue and calmly ask, "Where. Is. She?"

* * *

**A/N: I think Kurama will have a hard time convincing anyone other than himself that he doesn't greatly care for Tsukino now. If the hostage situation doesn't say it all, then please give me more ideas to help him with. Anyways, sorry for the long wait, couldn't find the time or the mood to write. Getting the house kitten friendly is a lot of work. I'm finding all these staples in the floors I never noticed before.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will continue to enjoy. See ya!**

**-D101**


	23. I Love You

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ The gang tried to escape the lair when the raccoons break in, and Kuronue gets brain controlled and attacks Tsukino and Kurama. After Tsukino gets herself into a hostage situation and tries to escape it, she gets eaten by a wall. Now Kurama is really mad, and we all know what that is like. Will the brain controllers and Kuronue survive? Read to find out.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty-Three  
****Separation Issues**

Day Hundred-Fifteen

Five minutes. Tsukino disappeared five minutes ago, and Kuronue has finally snapped out of his idiocy. Yasu must have used one of his various gaseous poisons to control him because slowly Kuronue has returned to his senses. However, I think I would have preferred it if he was still under Yasu's influence. He was far quieter. As I turn my attention away from him and towards the wall, he insists on pestering me with feckless questions. His favourite seems to be, "Why I am tied up?"

Eventually, I allow the plants to release him and turned my attention back to the wall, searching for any signs of a hole or trapdoor. I spot nothing. Meanwhile, Kuronue continues to annoy me with questions.

"Where's Tsukino-chan? Hey, Kurama, what's going on?"

I turn away from the wall and make my way back towards the lair. It is only now that I speak. Even I notice the sharp change in tone from a slightly chilled tone to one promising murder.

"We're going to find Amaterasu and Yasu."

* * *

Returning Home?

I was sure that I must have hit my head on a rock or dreamed meeting the detectives because when I awoke I saw the familiar walls of my room rather than the rock of the tunnels. Slowly, I rose made my way towards my closet.

'Was it really all a dream?' I wondered as I reached for the handle. My hands were shaking, and I hoped that there would be some sign that I had just hit my head on a rock and I was seeing things. If I didn't already know that the deities were busy, I would have muttered a plea that Inumura would be absent from my closet.

Dread making my movements slow, I opened the door. The beaded eyes of my stuff dog started into my tearful ones. I sank to my knees and stared at the floor. 'It was just a dream,' I realized. The whole thing. It was all just a dream.

"But it felt so real," I found myself muttering as I lifted my hands. The skin was whole, and my body gave no hints that my energy would soon end my life. Instead, my stomach growled reminding me to eat.

I stood and walked towards the kitchen. Already my memories of the dream were fading. The more I tried to remember the less I did. I couldn't quite recall how to play the card game Kuronue had shown me or how my room appeared back in Kurama's apartment. Keiko's, Botan's, and Yukina's voices were all interchangeable to me now, and if I died and met Koenma in Spirit World, I probably wouldn't even recognize him. One thing I remembered though was Kurama's green eyes but that wasn't a happy reminder. I had enough problems with green eyes thanks to my mother. I didn't need his eyes haunting me too.

The insanity of what I was thinking caused me to shake my head and groan.

'It was just a dream,' I thought to myself. 'The spirit detectives aren't anything like I dreamed they were. They are killers. Not friends. Not caring. Not safe… But I wish they were.'

The last sentence popped into my head before I could stop it. Shaking my head, I searched through the shelves for any form of food. I found a small piece of bread and ate it quickly. Slowly, I eased myself down from the counter and felt my clothing catch on a nail. Once I had freed myself, I realized I was still wearing my uniform. I almost gagged at the smell it gave off as I looked at the fabric for an unwanted tear. I was lucky, there was none. Not that it mattered since the maid outfit revealed more skin than it covered.

A loud crash from outside on the street reminded me that I didn't have time for dreaming and wishing. My shelves were now empty, and if I didn't get that pay check soon, my home would be too.

I wandered into the washroom where I attempted to remove some of the stains collected yesterday from a patron pouring his beer down my front. When the clothing smelled slightly better and looked slightly cleaner, I turned towards the door. At best, I was only an hour late for work. At worst, I was half a day late and then the boss would have me clean the backroom again. It didn't matter though. After the comfort of dreaming I had friends and actually meant something to someone, I felt empty. The friends I thought I had made weren't real. On the other hand, neither was the pain the dream Kurama had caused me. This was the only happy thought I had as I walked down the streets towards the bar.

It turned out that I was only two hours late and since we were so busy the boss couldn't afford to have me clean the backroom. Instead, I was carrying drinks for the drunks in the far corners. About three hours into my working day, I spotted a dark figure in the other corner who had yet to be served. I wasn't the only one who noticed. My boss had spotted the demon as well and sent me over to get its order.

Despite every warning bell in my head going off, I obeyed and went over to the corner. I put on the best smile I could muster (which wasn't much) and said, "Hello, what will you have today?"

Brown eyes studied my face and fangs poked out of his mouth as he replied in a soft old English accent, "I believe a tall glass of Moonshine would be very pleasurable, wouldn't you agree?"

Pricks of fear ran down my spine and I barely was able to nod before going to get his drink. When I returned with it, the man motioned for me to join him. As politely as I could, I refused and walked over to the other side of the bar where two new demons sat waiting.

One was a fox wearing a long coat and a hat, which shielded his face from view. The other was a bat. For a second, I had the strongest sense of déjà vu before I recognized the bat from my dream. The other demon I was at a loss until he removed his hat and glared around the room looking for service. His golden eyes focused on me as I walked over to them. The bat also looked over but quickly went back to drawing something on the napkin on the table. As I neared the table, both their attention turned to the napkin, and I heard the bat mutter something about steel doors.

They both ordered Human World beer and continued their planning. When I returned to refill their drinks, the bat called the fox Kurama. For a moment, I stood frozen. Thankfully, my sanity quickly reminded me that even though my dream said the spirit detectives' names were Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama; their real names could be something completely different. Also if it was Kurama the spirit detective, it didn't mean he knew who I was or was even in Demon World on a mission.

Since my brain was working again, I walked away and continued to refill drinks. At least I did that until the bat drank too much and started a fight. My boss quickly kicked them out so of course they didn't have time to pay for their drinks. That meant that the money came out of my small pay check. To top it off, I was stuck cleaning the mess off the floor that the bat made so I wasn't able to earn any tips either. (Not that most demons are tippers to start with.) For the next, two hours I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor.

Finally, I finished cleaning. Although my back and wings were in pain from crawling around, I was glad to stop giving drunken demons a good look at my rear and return to serving tables. Collecting my cleaning supplies, I walked to the back hallway and turned right, away from the bed chambers where noises could be heard coming from. I opened an old wooden door and stumbled over the many buckets that lay in the doorway. With my shoe, I kicked a few out of the way to make a path to the shelves.

After nearly breaking a leg from tripping over brooms, mops, and empty bottles I reached the rotting set of shelves. Unlike everyone else who left the buckets in the doorway, I placed mine on the bottom shelf and the scrubbers on the middle shelf about the same height as my stomach. Finally, I picked up the bottle of acid rain, which we used for cleaning floors and the back bed chambers. I looked around for the stepladder since I wasn't tall enough to reach the top shelf and climbing the shelves was a death sentence even without my boss spotting me. The rotting wood was ready to collapse even as I moved around looking for the stepladder.

Unfortunately, it was out of sight so I reached up to the top shelf with the bottle in my hand. I could just barely reach the shelf. Stretching for all it was worth, I stood on the tips of my toes and tried to place the bottle on the shelf.

Too short.

I looked around again for the stepladder but it still wasn't visible. For a second, I considered flying up to the shelf, but there wasn't enough room. Jumping was also a bad idea. If I jumped, the whole shelf could— would come down on me. One last time, I looked around for the stepladder that it still hadn't jumped into my view. Biting back a growl, I stretched once again and reached for that top shelf.

I heard and felt the glass of the bottle hit the shelf, but I couldn't stretch anymore to bump it onto the shelf. Instead, I moved my hand farther down on the bottle so that I was holding onto it by the bottom. The bottle hit the shelf again, and with a small jump that wouldn't cause the shelves to collapse, the bottle was on the shelf.

At the same time, something fell from the top shelf onto my neck. Thinking it was some sort of demonic spider, I shook myself off and swatted at my hair and clothing.

My hands felt nothing unusual, except for the feeling of expensive silk around my neck. Slowly, the silk started to tighten around my neck and a wave of fear and déjà vu crashed over me.

* * *

Kuronue and I burst through the door and into the main room of the lair to see Amaterasu and Yasu rush out of my bedroom. Without waiting for them to catch their breath, I grab Yasu and throw him into the kitchen. He hits his head on the counter and is quiet. Amaterasu attempts to run but I grab her by the throat. Holding her close to my face, I murmur, "Where is she?"

Amaterasu's eyes are wide as if afraid but inside the black depths I can amusement. "What are you talking about?" she gasps as my grip on her throat tightens.

"I am not as patient as you seem to think. Where is Tsukino-chan?"

"Probably behind the wall suffocating."

I throw Amaterasu onto the ground and summon my Death Tree. The branches quickly wrap around her and true fear appears in her eyes. Acid drips onto her arms and legs, and she twists trying to avoid the mouths.

"I will ask you again. Where is she?"

* * *

A thud turned my attention from the cloth around my neck to the floor behind me. On the ground lay a demon, who obviously was drunk and looking for some 'female company' if his lacking of a shirt and loosened pants were any clue. However, drunken demons did not randomly pass out, no matter how drunk they were.

Ignoring the cloth that was starting to tighten on my throat, I looked around for the cause of the demon's loss of consciousness. Beside his head was one of the many buckets that covered the floor in front of the door. As I picked it up, I noticed there was a spot of blood on the base.

"Lower levels always make a mess."

I almost jumped at the sudden voice and looked towards the doorway. Standing there was the friend of the bat demon who started a fight earlier. A white tunic had replaced his coat and his golden eyes weren't as cold, but there was no doubt in my mind that it was him. I also was sure that I had seen him before and not in the bar. Eventually, I realized that I should thank him for saving me from a… less than pleasurable situation.

"Thank you," I said since I couldn't think of anything else.

The man, Kurama if I recalled correctly, nodded and started to walk towards me. Too late, I wondered if I had just been saved from a drunk only to fall prey to a sober fox. Aware that backing up into the shelf was not wise, buckets were surrounding the door, and that Kurama was stronger than I was, I held onto the bucket in my hand. It probably wouldn't help me, but it was worth a shot.

Kurama smiled and paused in his movements. Ears twitching slightly, he said, "It's alright little flower. No one is going to hurt you tonight. Least of all me."

My eyes widened as I suddenly could place a time to the feeling I had met him before. In my dream about going on a mission with the Spirit Detective supposedly named Kurama, I had dreamt that I had been saved many times by the man in front of me. In the first dream I had ever had in my real dream involving him, he had said those exact words. A blush came to my face as I remembered referring to the man in front of me as "a knight in a shining white tunic."

Kurama seemed to misread my blush and smiled again. "May I escort you home?"

My neck felt slightly warm as I nodded. "Thank you."

He smiled again, this time revealing a fang. "It's my pleasure."

* * *

"KURAMA!"

Kuronue's shout causes me to turn just in time to avoid being beheaded by Yasu's axe. Jumping to the side, I manage to keep my head but gain a cut to my shoulder. I pause to assess my injury as the pain stabs through my rage. It is deep but nothing to worry about. No one moves as I turn my attention back to Yasu. His eyes hold a rage that rivals my own. For a second, we watch each other. Then I move.

Before Yasu can defend himself, I kick him in the stomach. He flies across the room where I meet him. Before he can hit the wall, I punch him downwards. His body hits the ground with a pleasing crash, and I place my foot on his chest, holding him down. As I turn my attention back to Amaterasu, I create a sword from vines and hold it threateningly over Yasu's throat. Her eyes are wide as I glare in her direction. My sword pricks the skin on Yasu's throat as I murmur, "This is the last time I will ask. Where is Tsukino-chan?"

Amaterasu opens her mouth but nothing comes out. My sword digs deeper into Yasu's throat. I turn the blade, and a yelp of fear and pain escape his lips, fuelling my bloodlust.

Amaterasu is still silent.

Yasu's claws struggle to clutch my foot resting on his chest but another small turn halts his attempts.

"It appears that your taste in women has gotten you into trouble again, Yasu," I mutter as I look over his sweaty face. "All she has to do is tell me where Tsukino is and I will let you live. Instead, you'll have to die."

His eyes widen as if in fear but they hold the same amusement as Amaterasu's did before I summoned by Death Plant.

"Unless," I continue, "I gain the information I want."

He struggles to draw breath as a sentence slivers out of his mouth. "Do your worst."

A smirk appears on my mouth as my sword transforms into a whip. It is not as sharp or as strong as my Rose Whip but it will do. The whip made from vines tightens around Yasu's throat. I take three steps away from him before I pull on the vines. His head comes off easily and a headless, wooden puppet lies on the floor. Within seconds of its beheading, the puppet begins to emit strong demonic energy. Before it can transform into the weapon Yasu and Amaterasu intend it to be, I pick it up and throw it onto Kuronue's room before locking the door from the outside.

I wait a moment to be sure that the door will hold before looking over my shoulder. With a grin, Kuronue destroys the Amaterasu illusion and throw the puppet into my room. When he has completed his task, he dusts off his hands and says, "You'd think they would learn that if the originals can't beat us, illusions don't have a chance."

I nod as I reach down to the ground to pick up near invisible threads. "Perhaps they cannot face the truth."

Kuronue nods as a loud bang comes from my room. "Well Amaterasu obviously has a problem with you and little sis. So are we going to wait around for these weapons to break out of our rooms and then destroy them?"

I shake my head as I open our front door. "No. These threads are coming from in the maze, and Tsukino-san's energy is coming from the middle."

"Isn't that where our version of the bamboo trap that nearly killed me is?"

"Yes."

He paused for a second before walking out the door. "Brilliant but I go first this time."

"Do you remember where all the traps are?"

Kuronue paused again. "I guess you'll go first then."

I nod as I take the lead, and we start walking into our maze, with our choice weapons at the ready.

* * *

At one in the morning, we were walking down the street talking. Kurama had left after offering to escort me home but reappeared at the door to the bar when I finished my shift. After I told him where I lived, we started walking and he questioned me about many things. Why I worked at the Nishi Bar, what I liked, if I had any family, how old was I, what my name was. All those perfectly normal questions. The only one I had trouble answering was the last one.

In my dream, I was called Tsukino and Tama. In harsh reality, I didn't have a name. My mother abandoned me as soon as I was born. She never wanted me so she didn't name me. My father called me Nine because I was going to be his ninth daughter. Nine wasn't a name though; it was merely a way of keeping track of me. My boss called me bitch, wretch, idiot, etc. and no one else cared. I never gave myself a name because no one would ever use it or remember it.

When Kurama asked me what my name was I considered telling him Tsukino or Tama, but the names wouldn't leave my mouth. Those names belonged in my dreams, and I needed to distance myself from that world. However, I couldn't think of a name to tell him either. So I told him the truth.

He frowned and said, "It doesn't seem right for a flower not to have a name."

I shake my head. "It's okay. No one would ever use it if I even had one."

"I would."

My face turned red, and I looked at the ground. We walked in silence for five minutes until his friend showed up. He and Kurama talked for a few minutes before he noticed me.

"Hi, I'm Kuronue." In the same breath he asked Kurama, "So this is the girl you've been abandoning me to go see?"

I glanced from Kuronue to Kurama and was startled to see a pink tint on Kurama's face.

Without looking towards me or replying to Kuronue's question, Kurama replied, "Kuronue meet Miyako-chan. Miyako-chan meet Kuronue."

I shook my head. "But my name isn't—" My voice died in my throat when I noticed Kuronue wasn't listening. He was hassling Kurama about finally working up the courage to talk to the 'chick' he apparently had been watching for the past four months. Eventually, Kurama told him to check something for him, and Kuronue disappeared into the night sky. By that time, his face was completely red.

We walked at least a block before I said, "Why did you say my name was Miyako?"

He studied me as he asked, "Do you not like it?"

I blushed and avoided eye contact as I said, "Yes, but why?"

He continued to stare at me. "Because I wanted you to have a name."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Mixed breeds aren't supposed to have names. No one is supposed to care for them. Especially demons they just met." My mind paused as I remembered Kuronue speaking to Kurama. Before he could reply to my outburst I asked, "What did Kuronue-san mean when he said you have been watching me?"

Kurama suddenly developed an interest at the road ahead of us as he replied, "Usually Kuronue and I go to bars once we have finished our work for the day. However, for the past while I decided to visit the bars alone to see if I could find any useful information without the inconvenience of Kuronue getting drunk."

I nodded and waited to see if he would continue. When he didn't I asked, "But what does that have to do with me?"

Kurama paused to look at an empty store before replying, "He seems to think that the reason I want to go alone is to observe you."

"But this is the first time you've been to the Nishi Bar while I've been working."

"Actually this was my tenth time. You just never saw me."

I nodded again. "So why didn't you just tell Kuronue that it was a coincidence since you weren't coming to see me."

He didn't reply, and I looked towards him. "Were you?"

His shoulders tensed, and I frowned, mentally preparing myself for a trick or a trap as words came from his mouth.

"At first I wasn't," he admitted.

"Then why—?"

Shadows hid his face from my view as he said, "I don't know. I guess I just fell for you."

My face turned bright red but I slipped my hand into his. "I think I fell for you too," I muttered.

Kurama didn't look towards me but I felt his hand tighten around mine. I never thought that such a small action would make me feel so happy.

The rest of the walk was quiet until Kurama stopped walking and said, "Here we are," as he motioned to the door of my home. I hadn't even realized when we entered the neighbourhood. He released my hand, and the sadness I felt was horrible. The happiness quickly returned though when he kissed me making me wish for more. I wondered if my mind had been transported to cloud nine because I muttered, "I love you."

When he muttered the same words back before kissing me again, I was sure I was on cloud nine. However, before anything could happen he pulled away saying that he would see me again later. Away from anyone who could see us. Then he started to walk away.

The sadness returned but my neck also started to feel warm. Before I even realized what I was saying, I had invited him in. He was silent as he paused in his walk. Quickly, I tried to undo what my mouth had done. I told him that the house was actually really run down, and I didn't have anything to offer him if he did come in but I did want to see him again.

Eventually he smiled and said he didn't mind spending more time with me right then even if I lived in such poor conditions. Apparently, he had come from a similar background and knew how things were.

Taking my key, I opened the door. As he stepped through the doorway, a wave of joy washed over me, which dulled my worries about his motives. He followed me into the kitchen and sat down. Instead of joining him, I told him I was going to get changed out of my work clothes and that he could make himself comfortable.

Without waiting for an answer, I rushed into my washroom. After locking the door, I removed my work outfit, which now had holes in it because of the acid rain I used to clean. Unfortunately, just as I got the outfit off, I realized that all my other clothes were dirty except for one pair of clothes. They had appeared on my doorstep two weeks ago with a tag saying, "Think of me. Love, Tokage." The only Tokage I could think of who would have had the twisted idea and went through with it was the rat faced lizard stalker who had been following me for months.

The thought of wearing the dark blue pyjamas made me want to retch, but I didn't have any other clothes. With little choice and a lot of washing the clothes before I even put them on, I changed. Of course, the clothes had been modified so that the shirt plunged deeper than it should and the pants were far shorter than they should have been. I pulled on the pants, trying to make them cover more but they were form-fitting too. The shirt was also impossible to fix. No matter what I tried, it still plunged too deep. The fact that it was hanging off my shoulders and was three sizes too big didn't help.

For a minute I stared into the mirror thinking that when Kurama saw me, he'd probably think I was asking for it. He was probably used to girls throwing themselves at him so I doubted he'd be surprised. But I wasn't that sort of girl. I didn't want the relationship to move that fast yet. I just met him! However, I was sure he wouldn't believe me if I told him that wearing my only clean pair of clothing. Or he might. He did say he had been watching me. So he probably had a good idea of what sort of girl I was. Of course he could have been lying.

I shook my head. When he made his confession, his voice was too truthful to be lying. My mind was blurred by happiness again but was quickly brought back to Earth when I noticed my clothing. It felt wrong to be wearing clothes given to me by a stalker in front of the man I loved.

My eyes fell on my towel rack, and I debated if wearing only a towel was better or worse. Worse, definitely, worse. At least with the pyjamas he'd just think I was getting ready to go to bed, which he could take either as a innocent act or something else. Also, he didn't have to know that a stalker had given them to me. However I didn't really want to show off my sub-standard body. He probably had thousand of girls throw themselves at him daily, and I didn't want him to leave because I looked so pathetic. I also didn't want him to jump me if for some unknown reason he liked what he saw.

I heard movement from behind the door and shook myself. I didn't have time to be worrying like that. Right then, he was probably wondering what was taking me so long. If I didn't hurry and pick something, he might walk in on me.

Again, my eyes glanced at the towel. Could I fit it under my top to cover my chest? I shook my head. Even if I could, he probably would think it was odd. Of course that was better than easy, right?

A little voice in my head disagreed. At least I could set him straight if he thought I was being easy, it rationalized.

However, if he still jumped me, I wouldn't be able to fight him off. I doubted I could use any of the techniques I learned in my dream and no one would care if I screamed.

"Is that so bad?" the little voice asked.

My mind flashed to what could happen and instead of feeling fear, I felt some sort of… excitement, I guess. If I was to be completely honest, I felt excitement every time I thought of him jumping me.

However, again I didn't have time to be worrying. I shook my head again to clear my thoughts and looked at the towel. Maybe if I folded it slightly I could make it look like it was part of my clothing.

As I tried to make up my mind, three words shattered all my thoughts.

"She believed you?"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so long to get up. My cats have been keeping me busy and I rarely am on my computer right now. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter regardless of the long wait. The bits with Tsukino's POV had many references back to SIWSM as well as information from earlier in the story. So don't worry too much if something seems familiar but you can't remember why.**

**Another note about things being unfamiliar. I changed Mikiku's job from owning a bar to working at a bar. Eventually I realized that if a mixed breed was even able to get a bar, no one would buy any drinks. So any information saying that she was a bar owner has been changed. I think. Did I mentioned Mikiku at all in SIWSM? … Anyways, if I missed anything please let me know.**

**Also for anyone who has no idea what the significance of "this time revealing a fang" is. Whenever a guy smiles and shows sharp fangs, it always is bad news! … Unless you are Yusuke and playing a prank. Obviously that Kurama was not playing a prank though so it was a warning of bad news. Tsukino did not get the memo.**

**Finally, I have a question that has been bugging me for a while. What are the different kinds of Japanese clothes called and what do they look like? I mean I think I know what a kimono is but then I hear about something called a hatori or something. What is that? Is it the same thing? Are there more kinds of clothing I don't know about? I'm just really lost on that.**

**Anyways, thanks for putting up with my lack of updating and long absences. I'd like to be able to say that I'll update on a schedule but I don't see that happening. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. I'll TRY to update sooner this time.**

**-D101**


	24. Women Hit Harder Than Villians

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Kurama and Kuronue have entered the maze in search of Tsukino after Kurama lets out some anger on illusions. Tsukino meanwhile is hanging out with 'Kurama' and believes that she dreamt about meeting the spirit detectives.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty-Four  
****A Woman's Fury**

Tricked and Angry

After hearing the sentence, "She believed you?" coming from the other side of my door, I crept towards it. Holding my breath, I cracked the door open and listened for the reply to the question.

He was still sitting at the table but was looking at a small stone. Even from my place behind the door I could see the smirk on Kurama's face as he replied, "Mixed breeds are easy to manipulate."

A female voice floated through the stone. "So what are you going do to with her? I doubt she has any valuables. You going to sell her?"

He nodded. "That was my idea. I'll be able to teach her some things and that should fetch her a higher price."

"But she's a mixed breed!"

His smirk grew. "You'd be surprised how well those sell on the market. A slave who will not pregnant appeals to many demons with more money than brains. The fact that she has wings and a tail will also make it easier to sell her."

"How long will you play with this one?"

"Depends on the first night. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting, my love."

For a moment, I stood there. Numbed by what I had heard. Then I smiled bitterly. It looked like the dream Kurama was right. What male could love me if my own mother couldn't? And if I hadn't overheard the real Kurama talking with his lover, my actions would have gotten me into even more trouble.

Tears were coming to my eyes but instead of feeling depressed and destroyed, I felt rage. It felt like a fire burning in my blood, and my mind was slowly becoming blank. I could never repay dream Kurama for his actions, but I could at least give this Kurama a nose bleed to think over.

* * *

Day Hundred-Fifteen

By the time we reached the middle of the maze, we had already wasted some of our energy by falling into traps that we had either forgotten about or never knew about. Twice blades fell from the ceiling in an attempt to behead us and four times plants had nearly eaten us before I was able to regain control over them.

From the approach of the traps, we knew they were not meant to stop us, but merely wear us down. Unfortunately, it was working. I had not taken a pill since Kuronue and I had been captured by the cat demons so most of my energy was being used to keep me in my demon form. The little that was left was quickly being used up by the traps. To save on energy, I had taken a whip from the storage room. It may not be as sharp as my Rose Whip but it would do. Kuronue was also suffering problems as the traps were destroying most of his weapons.

We still pushed forward though and eventually reached the middle point. Now we are looking for a way around the most deadly of our traps. Similar to the trap, which had captured Kuronue so many years ago, our trap used spears falling from the ceiling to keep the target from escaping. The main differences in design, besides using spears instead of bamboo, is that the tips of the spears aim to stop the target from escaping by attaching them to the floor unlike Enma's design, which was to merely pen the demon in.

Keeping these differences in mind, Kuronue and I carefully study the roof and floor for signs of tampering. Any chances to the design can mean disaster, especially if Amaterasu finds me conscious and unable to run. However, we can see no signs of tamper on the surface. As an extra precaution, I slip a small vine seed into the floor to disable the throwing mechanism. Once I am sure the machine was disabled I nodded to Kuronue.

Slowly, we walk across the floor alert for any signs of danger or Tsukino. Her energy covers the area but she is nowhere to be seen. Even by using my nose, I am unable to determine in which direction she is. Kuronue does not appear to be having better luck as he tilts his head, listening for anything.

We reach the back wall of the room, but do not spot Tsukino or sense her energy in any of the surrounding tunnels. In front of us are two tunnels instead of the four that should be there. Glaring slightly, I examine the wall looking for signs of an illusion. Unfortunately, I am unable to find any signs and touching the wall to see if it is real is a risk. If it is an illusion, a trap could be hidden behind it.

While I stare at the walls from a safe distance, Kuronue reaches to the bag at his waist. From it he pulls out his scythe. As I watch, he pulls a piece of metal and places it on the blade.

"My blade won't be as sharp but at least it won't get damaged," he mutters as he starts to spin the blade.

"Hopefully nothing is waiting on the other side what will cause you to need a sharp blade," I reply as he throws the blade towards the wall.

The rock crumbles as the weapon collides before it bounces off and shoots towards us. Before it can harm us, Kuronue pulls on the string causing the weapon to fly towards the wall again. Again it hits and destroys some of the rock. Three more times Kuronue attacks the wall only to have the weapon recoil after hitting the rock.

Finally, the weapon sinks into the wall, disappearing behind the illusion. With the flick of his hand, the scythe returns, and the illusion fades revealing the doorway. From behind it I can sense an energy which feels like Tsukino, however as I sniff the air, I cannot smell any signs of her scent down that hallway. After a moment the energy fades.

Without a word, Kuronue starts attacking the walls again. He must not have heard anything that would make him want to investigate. Within minutes he finds another hole in the wall. Once again the illusion falls but this time spears fall from the ceiling towards us. Kuronue is closest to the door so I push him towards it. In the process a spear grazes my heel. As I back away, another spear falls in front of me. I continue to dodge until I find myself penned in.

Kuronue stands in the doorway looking back and forth between the tunnel where Tsukino is and the room where I am.

I smirk as another spear scraps against my leg. "Tsukino-chan probably is in a worse situation than I am, besides," my smirk widens, "now we are even."

A grin appears on his face. "Alright then. Just don't take two thousands years to find us." Without another word, he disappeared as I had many years before.

* * *

No longer caring around my clothing, I rush out of my washroom ready to give Kurama a piece of my mind only to find the kitchen deserted. Rage growing and making my vision red, I wandered onto the streets. Even after a half an hour of searching, my rage had not died. Instead it had grown. I started to forget that I was powerless against him and could do little to harm him. In my mind, I started to picture horrible things I would do to him.

Part way through picturing myself running a sword through him, I noticed a flash of white down an ally. With my vision fading due to rage, I followed him. However, instead of a fox, I ran into the bat.

My rage started to fade until I remembered how the bat had played along with Kurama's plan. How he had said that Kurama had been following me for a while because he liked me. My anger returned and my claws grew. The fox was not the only one who was going to die that day.

* * *

It took me a little while to break through the spears since they were designed not to break under the strongest attacks. Eventually though, I was able to follow Kuronue into the tunnels. Mindful of traps, I went slowly. I wish I had moved faster. As I enter the room, I find Kuronue lying against the far wall. Blood covers him, and he warily opens one eye as I enter.

"What happened?" I ask as I help him up.

"Your girlfriend that's what," Kuronue mutters as he winches. "When I entered the tunnel she was tied up on the far wall with that damn scarf around her neck. Then next thing I know, she's loose and trying to kill me."

"Why?"

Kuronue finds the strength to smirk. "Because apparently I helped you trick her into liking when you were already with another chick and was going to help you sell her to the slave trade."

I frown. "Amaterasu?"

He nods. "She was also wearing a pendant, and it was flashing with Amaterasu's energy."

"It must be the center of the illusion then. If we remove it, she should snap out of it."

"Or she'll want to kill you for all the things you actually have done to her."

"Kurama!"

Over the years I have heard many battle cries, and I have always comforted myself by saying that nothing can scare me as much as the thought of being held captive by my female classmates. However Tsukino's battle cry is enough to send shivers down my spine. Without being able to warn Kuronue first, I remove myself from supporting him and jump out of the way as Tsukino's claws reach for my throat.

While Kuronue falls into a heap on the floor, I continue to dodge Tsukino's attacks. Once she lunges past me and I grab hold of her from behind. Although I know it is useless, I try to calm her by speaking.

Her only reply is to use her energy to create her Wings of Steel attack and slice into my chest with it. As I stumble backwards, she glares at me and shouts, "Pervert!"

For a moment I stare at her, wondering what I had done to earn that shout. I hadn't touched her in any way like that so why.

My thoughts are pulled away from her reaction as my eyes fall onto the pendant handing just above her chest. I frown a bit as I notice Amaterasu's aura. At the same time, I notice Tsukino had one arm covering her chest as well. Too late I realize what the illusion must have shown me as doing. I can't help feel disgust as I realize I had been pictured acting no better than Yusuke during our earlier spirit detective days. (I'm still not sure how Keiko managed to put up with his behaviour.)

Regardless, Tsukino is taking my treatment of her far worse than Keiko ever took Yusuke's. The worst that ever happened to him was a slap. I, on the other hand, am about to be gutted unless I can remove the Kuro Shi and the pendant.

Before Tsukino can move again, I rush forward and attempt to grab hold of the scarf, but it attacks me with its own energy before I can remove it. As I back away, I rub my hand that had been zapped by the protective barrier around the scarf. I do not reach for the pendant; I can already sense the barrier Amaterasu has made around it.

Tsukino does not seem to notice that I was aiming for her neck. Instead she glares at me. She probably took my approach the wrong way again. While I stand, trying to think of a plan, she lunges towards me again. As she passes, a small drop of blood falls onto my clothing. I had forgotten about her energy until now and I have no ways of blocking it from her use. The only thing I can do is finish the fight quickly.

As she misses me again, I feel her energy starting to burst from her as she tries to attack me. With little choice, I jump around behind her and ready to knock her out. Before I can, her wings stretch out and stab me once again. As I retreat for a second, I briefly understand how Kuronue became so damaged. On her own, Tsukino is not much of a fighter but any women is a force to be reckoned with when angered.

This time I charge and I throw dream pollen into her face with hopes of knocking her out that way. Unfortunately, she uses her wings to create a wind and blows it away. Again, I backtrack as I look for a way to stop her without harming her or wasting more of my energy.

In order to create the wind, she had to change her wings back to normal but now she is changing them back into weapons. As she does, more blood bursts from her arms. She shows no signs of noticing the pain she should be feeling, but instead of charging at me she braces her feet with her hands outstretched. My eyes widen as I sense her energy move towards her hands and a small sphere appears in her hands. I rush forward to stop her only to find her on the ground unconscious, behind her a familiar face.

"That's twice I've had to save you when your mate joined the other side," Hiei mutters as he looks down at Tsukino.

Unable to do anything else, I nod. "Thank you Hiei."

He only scoffs and looks to Kuronue who is walking towards us. "And I see the bat is still alive as well."

Kuronue manages a grin. "And kicking. Speaking of kicking, who is the demon behind you?"

My attention, which had been focused on Tsukino and Kuronue, returned to Hiei and I noticed the cat demon who was with him. The girl rushes past Hiei and towards Tsukino who is still on the ground. Trusting Neyuki to see to Tsukino without being in danger, I ask Hiei why he is not in Spirit World. His reply is enough to amuse me.

"That cat caught me as I was leaving and demanded to know where the mixed breed was."

Kuronue frowns. "So why didn't you just tell her and let her try to get by the traps?"

Hiei turns to glare at him as he growls, "I did but the idiot has no sense of direction, and unfortunately, she is one of Mukuro's favourite soldiers."

As Hiei is talking I notice a small spark escape from the bag Hiei is carrying. "Hiei," I ask when he is done, "were you able to drop off the treasures before Neyuki-san found you?"

He shakes his head.

"Then perhaps you should hand me the treasures so that the Jewel of Wrath does not kill anyone."

"As I recall, the raccoon was able to steal the treasures off you one already."

I frown. "That is correct but—"

Neyuki's shout of, "What the hell?" cuts me off before I can finish my thought.

As I turn around, I spot Tsukino lunging towards me and jump out of the way. Her eyes are closed, and she seems to be asleep. However, the scarf around her neck is pulsing with energy. I prepare myself for a second attack only to see Tsukino rush past me and run towards Hiei who is fighting with his bag. He dodges with ease but the red sparks flying from the bag are a worrying sight.

Kuronue is also worried as he looks to Neyuki demanding to know what she did.

Neyuki holds up the pendant that Tsukino had been wearing and says, "All I did was remove the pendant that had Amaterasu's energy on it when she suddenly sat up and pushed me out of the way."

"Did she say anything?" I ask as I glance over.

Neyuki shakes her head. "Just 'that bastard'."

A shout of success turns my attention back to Hiei and Tsukino. Neither are hurt but the Jewel of Wrath has fallen out of the bag through a hole Tsukino had made. The Kuro Shi forces Tsukino to pounce the jewel, but a sudden bolt of light flies from the jewel to Tsukino. She falls back while the scarf hovers in the air over the jewel, which continues to throw bolts of light at the fabric. The fabric meanwhile is trying to wrap itself around the jewel. However, the blasts kept the scarf at bay.

While the two objects battle I go to Tsukino's side. The jewel's attack had not hurt her and the only injuries she had were caused by her energy, which had calmed now that Kuro Shi was no longer controlling her. Her breathing is normal, and her heart rate is fine for a mixed demon. Kuronue still insists that I keep an eye on her though to be sure that the Kuro Shi doesn't come for her again. Thankfully, the Kuro Shi shows no signs of even remembering that we are in the room as it battles the Jewel of Wrath though. It just keeps trying to wrap itself around the jewel.

Suddenly, the jewel changes tactics. Instead of keeping the scarf away, it starts to draw it towards itself. The scarf tries to rush away but is quickly drawn to the jewel, which absorbs it. Within seconds the Kuro Shi is gone and the Jewel of Wrath has changed from an angry red to a calm blue.

The room is silent until Kuronue shouts, "The hell was that?"

"It looked like a lover's spat," Neyuki says with a frown.

"That was what it was," I reply with a small smile.

Everyone stares at me so I continue speaking.

"The Kuro Shi was created when a women was jilted by her lover. The Jewel of Wrath is the heart of the lover who jilted her."

Neyuki frowns. "Why was he so mad then?"

Kuronue shrugs with a frown. "Maybe he didn't actually jilt her. Doesn't really matter since it's over but Amaterasu and Yasu will have heard the noise."

I nod. "It would be wise to move away from here." Carefully, I lift Tsukino into my arms and turn to Neyuki. "Do you think you can find your way out alone?"

She pauses and then shakes her head. "Alive, probably not."

I frown and turn to Kuronue. "Hiei and I will take care of Amaterasu and Yasu then while you get Neyuki-san and Tsukino-san get out of here."

Kuronue shakes his head so hard that his hat almost falls off. "No way! Amaterasu messed with my sister, and there is no way I'm leaving it up to you and the shrimp to teach her a lesson."

"Kuronue, we don't have time for this."

He crosses his arms and glares at me like a child. "Then get the shrimp to drop off the girls and then come back. After all you're going to need all the help you can get."

I return the glare, hoping to intimidate him. Unfortunately, it does not work because he is right. Even as we speak my energy is slipping away and my body returning to its human form. However, if no one takes the women out of the lair, they will get in the way.

"Why don't we just leave them here and head off the raccoons before they get here?" Hiei says as he puts the blue jewel into the bag.

Before I can say anything, Kuronue rolls his eyes. "And do you have any idea where they are coming from?"

He nods but doesn't elaborate. With Kuronue's reaching his limit, I turn to Neyuki and ask her to explain. Thankfully she does. "When we came in we passed one room with noises coming from it."

"What sort of noises?"

Neyuki shrugs and Hiei mutters, "Whispering."

Kuronue, who was removing the metal covering from his blade, pauses in his work to ask, "And you didn't think to check it out?"

"If we had, she," Hiei points to Tsukino, "would probably be in the fourth stage by now."

"Kurama would have thought of something before that happened and if you had taken care of Amaterasu we could have been done this by now."

Not willing to listen to them anymore, I turn to Neyuki and say, "Could you show me where the room is?"

She nods. "They've probably already moved."

"That's fine."

Neyuki starts to lead the way but pauses at the doorway. "What about Tama-chan?"

For a second, I am confused until I remember that I am holding her in my arms. She has barely moved since I picked her up, and I had forgotten I was holding her. I look down at the demon in my arms and ponder what I can do. As I am thinking, Tsukino twitches slightly. Believing this to be a signal that she is waking, I lower her to the ground and back away. After the illusions Amaterasu created, I can only imagine the anger she will feel when she sees me. In order for the Kuro Shi to work, Tsukino would have needed to have felt some anger and hatred towards me, and the scarf obviously worked.

Tsukino twitches again and slowly her eyes open. She looks dazed and confused as she looks around the room before finally noticing Neyuki who helps her sit up.

"Feeling okay, Tama-chan?" she asks once Tsukino is able to focus on her face.

The mixed-demon shakes her head slowly as if it weighs a great deal. "Not really," she mutters as she places her hands on her forehead. "My head feels like it's going to explode. Everything seems jumbled."

Neyuki frowns as she places a hand on her friend's shoulder. "In what way?"

Tsukino shakes her head as she starts to stand. "It's nothing. Where are we?"

Her legs give out, and I catch her. Her eyes are closed in what seems to be pain so she hasn't realized who I am yet. Part of me wants to keep silent and just allow her to know that she's safe. The rest of me realizes that Amaterasu and Yasu can show up at any time, and that Tsukino needs to know what is going on so she can protect herself. Hoping that she doesn't hate me too much, I say, "We're still in the tunnels near the lair. Amaterasu and Yasu placed the Kuro Shi and a pendant on you to create an illusion."

As I feared, Tsukino freezes in my arms, and I can feel her heart actually beating. It looks like the pendant and Kuro Shi did what they were intended to do. After making sure that Neyuki is able to support her, I pull away and turn my attention back to Kuronue and Hiei who are still arguing. Unable to take it any longer, I move between them. "We do not have time to be arguing like this," I murmur as I try not to allow my frustration known. "There isn't enough time for Neyuki and Tsukino to leave the lair so we will move farther down the tunnel to a defendable location."

Both men become silent and nod.

Believing that they agree, I motion to the direction we will be heading. "Hiei, you watch the back. Kuronue, you help the girls. I'll lead."

Without another word, we start to make our way down the tunnels.

* * *

As I walked through the halls with the group I tried to block the thoughts rushing around my head. One second I thought I was Mi-something with no clue what was going on. The next I was Tsukino knowing exactly what was going. Then I was three years old and completely lost again. The only thing that remained constant in my mind was the pounding headache. As my senses tried to sort themselves out, I thought to myself, "_Next I'll be thinking that I'm Zella, warrior princess._" Thankfully, my mind recovered before I became that insane. Unfortunately, while my mind recovered, my body continued to fail. Pain everywhere was becoming an issue, and my vision was blurring. Neyuki and Kuronue were amazing help as they led me down the hallways. However, it quickly got so bad that I could barely walk. I tried to hide it, but then the world suddenly turned 90 degrees, and I found myself collapsing.

Kuronue called a halt, and I found myself the center of attention again. My head was betting worse causing my vision to swim as I tried to get my feet under me, but the pain increased as I felt blood running down my legs and arms. Vaguely, I heard Kuronue demand that Kurama find a way to make some tea. When I heard him say that I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe I was really losing my mind, but the idea of them sipping tea while I was dying greatly amused me.

Neyuki's shriek about my wings and ears changing colours brought me out of my insanity slightly. Enough for me to realize that a cup was being placed against my lips and a burning liquid was being forced down my throat. At first the liquid tasted okay, but then it became horrible. Without a thought to where I was spitting, I spat out the liquid. From the sounds of disgust that followed, I must have hit someone.

Hands gripped my shoulders as more liquid attempted to make its way into my mouth. I struggled as best I could through the pain and refused to drink. Someone muttered about hurrying up and suggested just holding my mouth open and dropping the tea down my throat. Thankfully, another person told him that I could drown. The first person didn't agree but no hands reached for my mouth so they must not have listened. Everyone was shouting ideas back and forth until one sentence made everything go quiet.

"Pass it to her through your mouth."

The speaker must have thought that he wasn't heard because he repeated himself.

"Kurama, just pass it through your mouth."

Kurama replied instantly. "Kuronue, this is not the time to be making stupid suggestions."

"I'm being serious! Just think of it as mouth to mouth."

Kurama's voice became a warning growl. "Kuronue."

"Just do it Kurama." Neyuki's voice was close to my head so she must have been holding my shoulders at that moment. Seconds later though, I felt her hands leave my shoulders and someone else grab them. I felt myself leaned up against something and lips touch mine. There was little doubt in my mind about who it was kissing me and I prepared myself for my curse to act up. To my surprise the only feelings I felt as he forced my mouth to open and the tea slipped down my throat was disgust at the taste. Nothing more. Nothing less.

As the tea went down my throat, the pain started to dull and my senses became to focus. Unfortunately, the effects of my curse also appeared as my mind because of my mind becoming clear. Kurama was probably confused when I returned his kis— mouth to mouth attempt to get the tea into me, but he didn't pull away. At least not until Kuronue laughed and said, "Maybe we should just leave them to it."

Kurama pulled away almost immediately and glared in the direction of Kuronue as he helped me to my feet. "Shouldn't you be keeping an eye out for Amaterasu and Yasu?"

Kuronue grinned. "Shouldn't you be saying thank you? If it wasn't for me, you never would have had the idea to kiss her."

He released his grip on my arm so I could walk over to Neyuki as he tried to defend himself. "It was mouth to mouth!"

"That's not what Amaterasu would think it was if she walked in."

"Since when does what Amaterasu think matter?"

"Since she probably would have had a heart attack and died if she saw that. Just couldn't get enough could you?"

"He was just practicing for me."

Before any of us could move, four small spheres were thrown into our area. Within seconds, the spheres released a dense fog. In front of me, I could feel Kuronue's, Hiei's, and Kurama's energy lashing out looking for signs of an attack. Neyuki's energy was also reaching out but she seemed to be looking for me. Once she grabbed onto my wrist, she hid her energy, and I heard her pull out her weapon, a lightning spear. Following Neyuki's example, I tried to hid my energy with some success. However, we did not move closer to the men. With our energy hidden they could easily mistake us for Amaterasu and Yasu coming in for an attack. I had thought that the two raccoon's plan was to kill us off one by one using the fog as a cover, but after a few seconds, I began to have my doubts. The tunnel was silent. Not even a single shout of pain could be heard. _'Were the others unconscious and being murdered in their sleep?_' I wondered. The thought made my blood turn cold.

I waited a few more seconds to see if I could hear anything. Nothing. Unable to stand it, I started to walk forward, pulling Neyuki with me. My legs felt heavy and my muscles contracted painfully with every move. As if they were freezing up. I brushed the pain off as being a side effect of my energy attack, but when Neyuki gasped in pain, I was forced to rethink. I paused and was about to ask Neyuki if she was all right when I found I couldn't open my mouth. Neyuki's grip on my wrist changed from a comforting one to a rigid vice. I tried to turn to look at her but my head wouldn't turn either. My neck muscles whimpered as I tried to force them to move. Finally, I tried to move my legs, and I realized what the fog was designed to do.

* * *

**A/N: First, hope this update was quick enough.**

**Second, You have no idea the temptation it was to just end the chapter at "He was practicing…"**

**Third, how many people liked Kuronue's suggestion?**

**Finally, this could be the second last chapter or the third last, I'm not really sure. Regardless the story is about to end. I might take some time away from this fic to work on some other ideas but I'm not really sure.**

**Thank you for reviewing and reading. See you next chapter.**

**-D101**

**P.S I haven't read this chapter over very well so please let me know if something doesn't make sense, if topics of a sentence change mid-sentence, and if I'm missing a word. Thanks.**


	25. Hostage

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Tsukino tried to kill Kurama and Kuronue because of the Kuro Shi and an illusion created by Amaterasu. However, the boys managed to survive due to Hiei knocking out Tsukino when he returned to the lair with Neyuki. Shorty afterwards, the Kuro Shi and the Jewel of Wrath had a lover's spat. Tsukino entered the third stage again (that seems to happen often) and went back to stage two after Kurama gave her mouth-to-mouth. Then four spheres rolled into their tunnel and paralyzed everyone.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty-Five  
****Hostage**

Day Hundred-Fifteen

At first the fog surrounding us appears to merely be a smoke screen, but after a few seconds we learn otherwise. As the fog clears and reveals Amaterasu and Yasu entering our tunnel, none of us is able to move. For a moment, the two raccoons hover near the entrance, studying their work. Amaterasu is the first to walk into the cave and places herself in front of Hiei. He glares at her as she pinches his cheeks.

"You were right, Yasu. Hiei really is the cutest of them," she announces as she removes the bag with the artefacts in it. With her back turned, she fails to see Hiei strain against his paralysis. However, she seems to sense Hiei's anger and energy grow because she quickly moves away from him in case he manages to release the Dragon of Darkness.

Once she is away from Hiei's line of attack, she reaches into the bag and looks through it. Yasu meanwhile is making his way towards the women. From the corner of my eye, I can see him stand before them with a sickening smirk on his face. He must have said something because both Tsukino's and Neyuki's energies suddenly leap out from being hidden. Their combined anger is enough to cause Yasu to take a step backwards but he continues to smirk.

To my right, Kuronue has also started to strain his muscles in an attempt to move. I have no doubts that he heard what Yasu said and wants to kill him for it now.

Before I can imagine what Yasu said, my attention is pulled back to Amaterasu as she growls. In her hand is the now powerless Jewel of Wrath and she stares at it a moment before saying, "Drop it Yasu. It looks like we'll need to use plan B."

Yasu looks away from the girls as he asks, "Why?"

Amaterasu watches me from the corner of her eye as if she blames me for the newest obstacle in her plan. "Our power source is useless now so I suggest that you stop antagonizing our new one."

"We could always steal another one."

"But that means waiting for the new moon."

"They happen every month."

Amaterasu looks away from me and turns her attention fully to Yasu as she says, "And I suppose you want to wait for a whole month for your wish?"

Yasu rolls his eyes but reaches for one of the many pouches on his belt. He pours a sour smelling powder onto his hand before turning to face the women again. After taking four large steps away, he throws the dust at them.

At first both women recoil and take a step back. Then, realizing that they can move, they move into offensive stances. Before they can attack, Yasu waves both hands in front of him. "I wouldn't attack me if I were you."

Neyuki, with her spear at the ready, glares. "And why would we listen to you?"

"Because I have something you might want to see." He reaches down towards his boot and unties a rope that stretches back the way the two raccoons entered. The women remain in an offensive stance but watch as the rope becomes slack and a small demon enters the cave. Her white tail is tucked between her legs and her blue eyes are tearing as she looks around the room before her eyes land on Neyuki.

"Sister!" she mews as she starts to run over to Neyuki. However, before she can reach her family member, Yasu pulls on the rope causing the kitten to be jerked back by the throat.

A hiss rises from Neyuki's throat while Tsukino shouts, "Let her go!"

Amaterasu laughs as she walks over to Yasu. "Or else what? Your boyfriends aren't able to move, and we both know that neither of you can use any form of energy attacks."

Both women twitch a bit but try to remain calm.

"What do you want?" Neyuki asks as she watches Yasu pet her sister's head.

Yasu nods. "I always knew you were smart, Neyuki-chan." He ignores her hiss as he hands Neini's rope to Amaterasu. "You and your lovely friend will go with Amaterasu while I stay here and make sure your friends don't try to interrupt your girl talk."

Again, both women twitch, but Neyuki lowers her spear as Tsukino drops her offensive stance. Slowly, they walk towards Amaterasu who motions for them to walk down the tunnel in front of her. Within seconds, the group disappears from view. Yasu continues to watch the tunnel after the women have vanished.

Beside me, Kuronue and Hiei attempt once more to move but are unsuccessful.

Without looking towards us, Yasu says, "You might as well give up. My Petrifying Powder is foolproof. Not even you, Kurama, can think of some way to overcome it."

It is not hard to remain silent, as I am unable to move my mouth. Yasu does not seem to care as he continues speaking. "I still don't see what she liked about you."

The kick came from nowhere, and I collapse on the floor. However, my body does not remain in the same shape it had been when standing as it should have if I was petrified. Instead my body briefly adjusts to its new position before becoming rigid again. Yasu does not notice the change. Instead he circles us.

"Cold as a stone. No experience at all. Absolutely no personality to speak of. Even the bat would have been a better choice." He punches Kuronue in the jaw and starts to walk away when he pauses. "She was interested in you for a week actually."

From my place at the ground, I can almost feel Kuronue's disgust as Yasu continues his walk, nearing Hiei.

"Of course for some reason, she thought that you'd warm up and change if she gave you a chance." He passes Hiei without even looking at him, which seems to anger Hiei. "I can't imagine why she won't let me kill your friends. It's not like we can use them for anything." An insane grin comes to his face as he summons a black axe. "However, I'm sure she wouldn't care about damage."

The blow landed on my back and blood poured over my shoulders. Kuronue is the next to feel the blade as it cuts through his side. Again Hiei is passed over. As Yasu turns to me, he raises the blade to his mouth and carefully licks the blood from the blade. "Perhaps it is just the taste of your blood she likes," he mutters as he raises the blade over his head. As Yasu pulls his arm back to throw another blow at my back, I tense. The axe descends through the air towards my back again, and I instinctually try to dodge.

A cry rings throughout the cave but it is not mine. Instead, Yasu is yelling in anger. I barely have enough time to wonder what is happening when he swings the blade at me again. He misses as I dodge but only barely. The blade cuts a bit of my hair as I jump away from him, a reminder of how sharp the blade is.

"How can you move!" he demands as he stares.

Behind him, Kuronue twitches and moves his head to look at Hiei. Yasu notices the movement and turns to look at Kuronue who becomes immobile again. Before Yasu is able to look at me again, I have punched him. He stumbles back and nearly crashes into Kuronue.

"It appears that your powder is not as foolproof as you thought," I reply as I walk towards him after borrowing Hiei's sword.

Yasu glares at me and quickly stands. However, he does not charge as I expected him to. Instead he places his blade at Kuronue's throat. "Think you can still take a step forward, fox?" he says as he slits open Kuronue's throat a bit. He fails to see Kuronue's wandering hand until it is too late.

"Why don't you take a step back?" Kuronue shouts as his scythe stabs onto Yasu's back and tears through his side and organs.

Yasu stumbles away from Kuronue and stares at him as his organs slip out of the rips in his body. He starts to speak but only blood leaves his mouth. Then he hits the floor. For a second, Kuronue stands over him as watches as Yasu's side stills. "That's what you get for even thinking about touching my sister," he mutters before turning to me with his usual grin replaced by a frown and a piercing glare.

I return the glare while wondering why Kuronue was glaring at me instead of the corpse at his feet. As he removes a flask tied to his belt and quickly swallows more than would be considered wise, I recall what he had said about Enma's mind control. Without speaking to him, I walk over to Yasu and quickly go through his pockets, hoping to that the alcohol will last until after we find Amaterasu.

Rather than join me, Kuronue turns to Hiei and says, "You can move midget. He's a goner."

Hiei's energy lashes out towards Kuronue, but does not materialize into an attack. Ignoring Hiei's attempts to harm him, Kuronue walks closer. "You don't have to be afraid of getting killed now."

I find nothing of use in Yasu's pockets and turn around in time to see Kuronue poke Hiei on the forehead. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," I reply as I walk towards them. "He simply cannot move because of the powder Yasu used. Since the powder wasn't tied to Yasu's energy, it will still work after he is dead."

"So why can we move but he can't?"

I pause beside Kuronue, hoping that he will cheer up once I mention how to help Hiei. "When Yasu attacked us, he caused us to bleed. Our blood removed the powder from our bodies so we were able to move again."

A hint of a smirk appears around Kuronue's mouth as he cracks his knuckles. "Think a nose bleed will work?"

Before I can answer, Hiei is sitting on the ground with a bleeding nose, and Kuronue's good humour has returned. His usual grin covers his face as he shakes his hand to get feeling back into it. "Wow Hiei. You sure have a hard nose."

Hiei glares at me as he wipes some blood away from his nose. "Why didn't you use an antidote or something?"

I shrug as I hand him back his sword. "I would have preferred to give you one but Yasu did not have any antidotes in his pockets and I could not waste energy making one." I look at his still bleeding nose. "Pinch your nose, Hiei. It will help stop the bleeding."

Kuronue places a hand on Hiei's shoulder. "He's lying. I'm just his favourite."

Before Hiei can reply, I turn to walk back to the lair. "Amaterasu will have to surface if she wants to use the mirror after she has fixed it."

"So why aren't we following her?" Hiei shouts as he stands up, still holding his nose.

"Because the tunnel she traveled down will be filled with traps. She won't risk using Neyuki-san's energy in such a small space either. We'll leave through the front door and then look for them above ground."

Kuronue frowns. "But doesn't that mean we have to travel through the demon-eating plants?"

I nod.

"Can the midget go first?"

A small sigh escapes my lips as Hiei retaliates and Kuronue continues mocking him. As the two run down the tunnel ahead of me, I briefly hope that they retain some of that anger. Amaterasu will be using all her tricks to confuse us and any advantage we can get will be helpful.

Minutes later, we leave the lair and enter the surrounding forest. Without even pausing to check for Amaterasu's scent, I walk to where I know there is a clearing in the forest. Amaterasu will need an open area where the fixed mirror will be able to reflect the non-existent light of the new moon, I reason.

Hiei and Kuronue fall into step behind me and we walk pass the many demon-eating plants I had planted around the lair. As we enter the forest, Kuronue and Hiei both draw their weapons, which they had sheathed as we raced through the tunnels. I had not sheathed my whip so I had not needed to unsheathe it now.

The forest had grown since Kuronue and I had last visited. The ground was covered in fallen trees and foliage that made travelling slow and difficult. More than once we had to double back because breaking through the obstacles would waste precious time and energy. However, as we jumped over a rotting log Kuronue called for a halt. Hiei and I watched as he tilted his head from side to side before pointing to our left.

"Something small, terrified, and crying is over there."

Hiei scowled. "We don't have time to play superheroes, remember?"

Kuronue nodded. "Yeah, but no demon is stupid enough to wander into a weird forest without a good reason."

I frowned. "You think it's Neini-chan?"

"I'd bet money on it."

I turned to walk to where Kuronue said the crying was coming from. Kuronue fell into step at my side but Hiei refused to move.

"How do we know it's not a trap?"

"We don't," I replied. "But we do know that if we find Neini-chan, we'll also find Amaterasu."

Hiei continued to scowl but fell into step beside us as we made our way westward.

* * *

A Lack of Will?

Amaterasu kept Neini on a tight leash so Neyuki and I were unable to do anything but follow. Eventually we came to the end of the tunnel. Many demon-eating plants turned to growl at us but did not attack as we continued on our way. I couldn't help but wonder if Kurama had forced the plants to hold back or if the plants simply did not attack anyone who left the lair.

Thinking about Kurama caused me to reflect on his, Kuronue's, and Hiei's situation back in the tunnels. I was confident that they would escape and hopefully cause Yasu to take back those threats he had uttered to Neyuki and me. However, I was worried about whether they would be able to escape in time to help Neyuki and me. As long as Amaterasu had Neini our hands were tied and I was sure that Amaterasu was planning something. Though she was annoyed about the Jewel of Wrath being useless, she was walking with a little hop in her step and from my place at her right hand I could see her smirk.

'She must have wanted to use this plan in the first place but decided to use the Jewel of Wrath because it was easier,' I thought to myself. 'But what is her plan?'

At my left, Neyuki glared holes into Amaterasu's back and if looks could kill, that mission would have been over within seconds. However, they couldn't so she continued to walk at my side, every so often looking in her younger sister's direction with an attempt at a reassuring smile.

Finally, Amaterasu halted. The forest of demon-eating plants had vanished to be replaced with a grassy meadow in the middle of which was a tree. Behind Amaterasu the sun was beginning to set. It would have made a beautiful picture if it wasn't ruined by the image of Amaterasu standing by the tree with a twisted grin on her face.

Once we had stopped, Amaterasu reached up to the branches of the tree, which were covered in pink fruit. She picked two of the fruits and threw them to Neyuki and me. I turned the fruit over in my hands and wondered what Amaterasu was up to. My hands froze as I noticed that the fruit was oddly shaped. It had two dents in the upper portion of the fruit that could have been eye sockets if the fruit was a face. There was also a small bump that could have been a nose and lines that could have been winkles and a mouth.

"Recognize it ladies?" Amaterasu asked as I turned the fruit over in my hands again.

Neyuki growled and said, "What do you plan for us to do with human-faced fruit of the demon-eating tree?"

My face must have shown my shock because Amaterasu grinned and watched for my reaction as she said, "Eat it."

"What?"

Amaterasu grinned. "You heard me. You have to eat that fruit or your sister will die."

I stared at the fruit in my hands and debated if I could throw it at Amaterasu fast enough to grab Neini and run. Meanwhile, Neyuki hissed. "If you want to kill us, why don't you just use your weapon instead of fruit poisoning?"

"Let's just say that I have a little experiment I want to try and you two are the guinea pigs." She pulled on the leash making Neini stumble towards her.

With no choice, Neyuki and I took a bite of the fruit. As I swallowed I braced myself for the choking that I was sure would follow. A second passed. My shoulder slowly loosened. Two seconds. I opened my eyes to look down at my hands. It was as if I had never eaten the fruit. I turned to look at Neyuki. She too was staring at her hands. But her form was blurring. I blinked as I tried to make out what was in front of me. My head started to feel heavy and my blood burned. I collapsed to my knees as I felt my lungs close up and refuse oxygen. I coughed but no air entered my system. My lungs then felt like I just swallowed a litre of acid the wrong way and I felt tears coming to my eyes. Finally, I blacked out.

When I awoke, I realized that I was standing. I stared at the other side of the clearing, trying to remember what had happened when I passed out. I was pretty sure that I had fallen to the ground and didn't remember standing. Neyuki remained at my side, but when I turned my head to look at her, I did not move. My eyes remained focused on the other side of the clearing. I frowned and realized that my facial muscles had also not moved.

Had the fruit really killed me? I wondered. Was my soul trapped in my dead body and how did I get back into a standing position?

As a small experiment, I tried to flex my aura. It is hard to explain what I saw. I know that I saw my hands light up in my side vision, but at the same time I didn't see my hands light up. It was as if I was behind a full-body mask. I could see the outside world through the eye-holes of the mask but could also see what was inside the mask because the covering hovered nanometres away from me. In the outside world, my body gave no hint of my attempt to flex my aura. But behind the mask, my aura flickered and lit the inside of the mask before disappearing.

I knew that demon and spirit energy came from the soul so I reasoned that my theory of my soul being trapped in my body made sense. What did not make sense was why my body and soul had become split and why my soul was trapped behind the fleshy mask. If I was dead then I wouldn't be standing and I wouldn't still be breathing as I slowly noticed. So, the fruit obviously was the case of my problem, but I couldn't see how it managed such a feat. Then I reminded myself that I wasn't in human world where the most surprising thing was finding out that demons were real.

Deciding not to dwell on my problems, I decided to try to figure out where Amaterasu and Neini had gotten to. Unfortunately, I could not make my body move at all and was forced to stare at the same spot. Eventually, it dawned on my that I was staring at the Demon-Eating Tree where Amaterasu was lounging in the upper branches poking at the fruit. Neini was nowhere in sight.

Amaterasu continued poking at the fruit for a while until I wondered if she even realized that while my body was unable to move, my soul was awake and watching. And confused.

I just couldn't see what she could gain from making Neyuki and me immobile and our souls restless. Unless our bodies being uncontrolled by our souls made her able to control them. But that still didn't explain how her using us could gain her a new power source. Unless she was going to have us steal one. But if she was going to make up do that, she could just as easily steal herself a new one. However, Amaterasu knew about Neyuki's untamed demonic energy because of her time in the Cat Demon Base. I shook my soul head.

'Even Amaterasu wouldn't try that,' I thought.

Neyuki's power was just as unpredictable as the Jewel of Wrath. Also, I had a feeling that our bodies wouldn't be able to channel soul energy now that our souls had been separated from them. So what was Amaterasu planning?

My thoughts came to a halt as Amaterasu jumped down from the tree and walked towards Neyuki and me. She stared into our eyes for a moment, making me want to squirm. Finally, she took a step back and grinned.

"Congratulations. You two are the first to have survived eating the Human-Faced Fruit." She walked around us, poking and seeing if we reacted. Our bodies did not but I was sure that Neyuki, if her soul was also awake, was hissing for a battle. "Everyone else was too strong-willed to survive," Amaterasu continued as she batted my tail. "Or their power was too tightly tied to their bodies. That's why I never attempted this method on Kurama. With his strong will, he would have died within seconds."

Seemingly satisfied with her work, she took a step back. "Now, I've hidden the kitten in the forest behind us. I want you to find her and kill her."

My legs moved without my will controlling them and I strained to keep my spirit legs from following. But my back hit the back of the inside of my body and I found myself walking, looking through my eyes towards the forest.

"Oh and Neyuki."

I watched as Neyuki's body paused and looked back.

Amaterasu grinned again. "Be sure to use your bare hands."

Bile ran up my throat as I watched Neyuki bow and run into the forest. Again, I dug my heels into the ground and strained against the movement my flesh wanted to make. Once more my back hit flesh and I was forced into motion, keenly aware of the hysterical sobs of kitten coming from the west.

* * *

We have barely traveled a mile when we found the source of the noise Kuronue had heard. Hidden between the roots of a rotting tree, Neini watches with tear-filled eyes as we step onto the roots above her. After minutes of coaxing from Kuronue, she finally climbs out from between the roots and scrambles into his protective embrace. While he gently questions her, Hiei and I circle through the surrounding foliage looking for signs of Amaterasu or the other women. As I scan the treetops I take notice of a black sphere rising higher into the sky.

"She won't be able to use the mirror for another two hours at least," I mutter to Hiei.

He glances in Kuronue and Neini's direction. "So why did she get rid of the hostage?"

I shake my head. "I do not know unless she found another way to control the girls."

"From the looks of things, it wouldn't be too hard to control your mate."

I glare at him. "She isn't my mate, and it just has happened that our adversaries have decided to use her instead of another person."

Before he can reply, Kuronue joins us with Neini still in his arms. "Neini-chan said that Amaterasu forced Neyuki-san and Tsukino-chan to eat some weird fruit before dragging Neini off into the forest and abandoning her."

"What sort of fruit?" I ask.

Neini eyes have dried of tears but they are still fearful as she says, "It was pink and she said it came from a demon-eating tree."

I must have been the only one in our group to have ever heard of the tree because Kuronue and Hiei only stare with a confused frown on their faces while mine freezes into a worried frown. "Did the fruit look humanlike?"

Neini blinks. "What does a human look like?"

Words do not come to my mind as I try to figure out how to describe what humans look like. It has not occurred to me that Neini, being as young as she is, would not have seen a human before. Thankfully Kuronue thinks of a reply. "Like the midget only with flatter hair."

Neini frowns. "But these were pink like cherry flowers and there were more lines on it."

"What does it matter if they looked human, Kurama?" Hiei demands as he glares at Kuronue for daring to say Hiei looked humanlike.

"Because the Human-faced Fruit of the Demon-eating Tree is able to remove the spirit from the control of the body if the spirit's energy is not tightly bond to the body or the will is weak."

Kuronue frowns. "So what happens if you eat the fruit and your will is too strong?"

"You die."

Too late I realized what effect my words would have on Neini and she instantly started to cry. Kuronue took the time to glare at me before turning his attention to Neini and attempting to get her to calm down. Hiei meanwhile huffs. "Well at least we won't have to worry about your mate dying," he mutters.

"Are you suggesting that Tsukino-san is weak-willed?" I ask as I attempt to keep a growl out of my voice.

He nods. "She'd have to be to get possessed so often. Even her soul has gotten stolen by the Orb of Baast, which only steals **human** souls. Any other demon would have fought it off or died trying."

"Or said hot."

Neini looks away from Kuronue's attempts to make her laugh to ask, "Why would saying hot get your soul stolen?"

If Hiei didn't hold me in such regard, he probably would have killed me on the spot. Thankfully, he only growls and walks off. With nothing else to do we start to follow him and find him again just in time to see get tackled to the ground by Neyuki. Kuronue and I watch as Hiei shoves her away from him and moves his sword into an offensive position. Instead of charging forward as we expect, Neyuki glances around the area before focusing on Neini in Kuronue's arms. Her eyes are glassy and dull as she stands and removes her gloves.

Seconds later, Tsukino appears through the foliage. Her eyes are also glassy but instead of charging towards me, she too focuses on Neini who has started to shift uncomfortably under the unblinking stares.

Kuronue carefully lowers Neini to the ground and steps in front of her. "I guess the fruit got them," he mutters as he also pulls out his weapon.

"Apparently," I reply as I move into an offensive stance.

Neyuki and Tsukino make no move to attack and just continue to stare at Neini. Suddenly, Tsukino lunges forward while Neyuki moves to the side. Many years ago Hiei and I had used the same move so we were more than able to counter it. Tsukino, the distraction, is quickly caught in my whip. Instead of struggling or cutting through the whip with her claws, she merely blinks. Meanwhile, Hiei blocks Neyuki's claws with his sword as she attempts to attack Neini from behind. Neyuki's face show no surprise or annoyance as she is forced back. She merely retreats and continues to stare as if she is assessing our reactions before creating a new plan. Hiei doesn't give her much time before he charges towards her. For a little while, Neyuki is unable to do anything but dodge.

Tsukino, however, moves into a new attack. Taking advantage of my capture, she runs forward and shoves me out of the way. My grip loosens on the whip just enough for her to slip out from my grasp and charge towards Kuronue. He easily blocks her punches but when he tries to attack she slips on the ground and slides around him to where Neini is. Before she can harm the kitten my whip forces her to retreat. I quickly move forward and block Neini from her view and clearly signal that to get the kitten she has to go through me. She pauses as Neyuki did and stares.

Kuronue has also paused and is staring at the treetops. With a flap of his wings, he disappears into the night. A second later I hear Amaterasu shout, "Neyuki, defend me!" as she darts from tree to tree with Kuronue's scythe on her tail.

From her duel with Hiei, Neyuki looks up and leaps towards Kuronue's and Amaterasu's duel. As she runs she pulls out a small rod that quickly grows into a spear. From my place 5 metres away I can feel the static electricity coming off the spear. Like all bat demons, Kuronue is easily defeated by electricity but it does not appear that he realizes the danger approaching him as he continues to try to murder Amaterasu.

"Why don't you defend yourself?" he shouts as his scythe cuts through the branch Amaterasu was planning to use as a landing. As she starts to fall, Kuronue pulls back his arm and aims the blade for her throat. At the same time Neyuki appears behind him. With no time to shout, I am forced to use my own weapon to pull Kuronue out of the way of Neyuki's attack.

As he crashes to the ground a bolt of lightning passes over his head and hits what used to be a tree. All that is left is ashes.

Kuronue moves to his feet fairly quickly considering that he just hit his head on the ground. He shakes it slightly as he turns to face me, probably thinking of either yelling at me or thanking me. Instead he shouts, "Watch out!"

I turn just in time to see Tsukino lunge towards Neini and me. Thankfully, my adventures with the rest of the spirit detectives have made me able to move quickly even with little spirit energy left. I grab Neini and jump out of Tsukino's reach.

Amaterasu, meanwhile, returns to the forest floor with a grin on her face. "I should have done this from the start. These girls are far better bodyguards than Yasu ever was. All he was good for was getting killed. After I fix the mirror, I think I'll keep them as pets." Her eyes turn to me. "What do you think, Kurama? Want a mutt for a pet?"

My reply is halted by another lunge towards me by Tsukino. Neyuki, however, remains by Amaterasu's side as she watches me protect Neini.

"Of course we'll have to get her de-clawed," Amaterasu mutters to herself.

"Why don't you get disillusioned?" Kuronue shouts as he throws his scythe at Amaterasu once again.

Instead of blocking it, Amaterasu merely smirks and watches as Neyuki places herself in the blades path. She raises her spear again and allows the blade to strike the metal. Another bolt of electricity travels from the spear but this time follows the metal of the scythe back to Kuronue. He takes the attack and is blasted into a tree where he collapses to the floor. To my relief he gets to his feet in seconds and wipes some blood from his mouth.

"Damn it, she's good," he mutters as he struggles to get to his feet.

At this moment, I realize that Hiei was missing and look around for him while keeping out of Tsukino's grasp. I spot him behind Amaterasu, readying to decapitate her. Unfortunately, Neyuki also spots him and seconds later he too crashes into a tree.

Amaterasu grins down at him before turning to Neyuki and saying, "Let's go. Tsukino, you keep these boys busy until I need you, okay?"

To my surprise, Tsukino and Neyuki nod before Amaterasu and Neyuki disappear back into the undergrowth. Hiei moves to follow but Tsukino suddenly appears him front of him and manages a well-placed punch that forces Hiei to take a few steps back.

Kuronue starts to move but she kicks him away. From his place at my right, he says, "Any ideas?"

"One," I reply. "Be ready to defend Neini if Tsukino lunges when I move."

He nods and rises to his feet. Hiei has not moved so I trust that he has an idea what my plan is.

Carefully, I move away from Neini and start walking towards Tsukino. She stares at me as I move closer. Her right hand twitches slightly but she does not move, not even to get a weapon. I walk a bit to her right and continue forward. She leans a bit onto her left leg. Her plan is probably to punch me as she did Hiei. I am parallel to her and pause. She does no move other than to stare at me out of the corner of her eyes. I take a step forward.

Her hand seems to come from out of nowhere and flies towards my temple. However, I raise a hand and grab hers before pulling her off balance. She stumbles towards me and I get behind her. With a careful hand, I push on the pressure point in her neck. She collapses.

The event only lasted a second but Kuronue stares at me for a least another four before saying, "Those mission you went on must have been one hell of a ride."

Hiei rolls his eyes as he moves towards Tsukino and me. "About time you took maters into your own hands, Kurama."

I nod and try to avoid looking at the body at my feet. "Come on. We only have an hour to find Amaterasu again and stop her."

* * *

**A/N: First, you can tell I was reading Inuyasha manga, can't you? And Hiei greatly amuses me. I just love how he can badmouth Tsukino and live. The fact that he wasn't awesome enough to get punched by Yasu is funny too.**

**Second, did you find Yasu's feelings towards Amaterasu surprising? Do you think I need more hints at his feelings before this chapter to make this seem more realistic and less out of the blue?**

**And third, I'm just curious. Would you guys want the two to just end up together in this story and be done with the series? Or would you prefer that I keep to my original plan and just keep annoying them until the end of the fourth story? Because to be honest, I'm getting tired of this plot and character design.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. I'll try to update quicker since the next chapter will probably be the last. Shocker huh? And I swear there is progress between Kurama and Tsukino in the last chapter. Just probably not as much as you want. Unless you all just want this story over and done with. Then I guess I could just fudge it A LOT and throw in a lot of OOCness and be done with it. But we'll see.**

**See ya next chapter!**

**-D101**


	26. End of the Mission

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot._

* * *

_Recap:_ Amaterasu forced Neyuki and Tsukino to eat the Human-faced Fruit which caused their souls to be split from their bodies. Her first order was for the girls to murder Neini who was hidden in the surrounding forest. However, Amaterasu did not expect the boys to find Neini first. After a quick battle that left Tsukino unconscious, Amaterasu and Neyuki retreated with the boys in high pursuit as the new moon moves into the sky.

* * *

**I'll Show You What I Can Be  
****Chapter Twenty-Six  
****End of the Mission**

Something Found, Something Lost

They should have made sure that I was going to stay down rather than rush off after Amaterasu. They should have tied me up or broke my legs and wings. They should have stopped me. But they didn't.

Minutes after Amaterasu ordering me to delay the boys, Kurama had done something to the back of my neck and I collapsed. Seconds later, they ran from the area in search of Amaterasu. Only minutes after that, I was aware of the eyes in my flesh mask opening. My body raised itself to its feet, ignoring the pain that was radiating from my head. My legs started to move forward when a voice floated to me over the wind.

"That's enough, Tsukino. Return to the clearing now."

My body moved so quickly that for a second I was looking at the back of my skull. My soul quickly turned and I watched as my body sped towards the clearing where the Demon-Eating Tree sat. When I arrived I found Neyuki sitting under the tree beside the stolen objects while Amaterasu placed sheets of paper and sticks around the edge of the clearing. She did not speak until she had completed her task and sent her energy into the objects causing them to glow an unnatural red colour. Taking a step back to admire her work, she flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder and said, "Neyuki, when they appear be ready to blast the objects. Tsukino, you hide and be ready to make your wish." She turned and smiled at me. "After all I'm sure you just can't wait to be rid of him, now can you?"

My body did not answer but instead jumped up into the high branches of the tree. Even though my body showed no signs of being seriously creeped out, I was. As I crouched among the fruit covered branches, I was sure that the tree was considering eating me. I could almost hear its stomach growling and the all the fruit in the tree turned to look at me.

A small part of me hoped that the boys would notice the fruit's direction of focus and put two and two together but the larger part of me knew that they wouldn't. They'd be too focused on Amaterasu, and my body would not have hidden herself in the tree if it wasn't a good hiding spot. However, I also knew that Amaterasu was putting too much faith in the fruit that Neyuki and I had eaten. Though our bodies were obedient our souls weren't so Neyuki wouldn't be able to use her spirit energy to Amaterasu's advantage. Unless Amaterasu had done something else to my friend while I was gone.

From my place in the tree I looked down on Neyuki as best I could. She didn't look any different. Of course, neither did I and I had no power over my actions. Or did I? I couldn't control my body, but my spirit energy was still under my control.

Amaterasu was also standing under the tree now. Only a few inches from my position. Yusuke always said that the best way to make/learn a new attack was in battle. After all, that was how he learned to use the spirit wave. My current attacks were both useless at the moment. Shiro would only alert Amaterasu to the fact that I still controlled my energy, and Wings of Steel would only work if I could move to attack her, which I could not. What I needed was a new attack similar to Yusuke's Spirit Gun but without the need to physically aim.

Not completely sure what I was doing, I started to collect my energy. From inside my mask, I saw my soul started to glow. Suddenly, I had an idea. I started to move the energy to my soul eyes, which were focused on Amaterasu. The power was building and I wondered how I would release it. The answer came quicker than I would have liked. I found myself pushed to the side as my body turned her head to her left. With my concentration lost, my energy disappeared and the pain appeared. My whole soul felt like it was being torn, and too late, I remembered about my problem.

Again my body gave no signs of feeling my pain but instead continued focusing on the edge of the clearing. Though the pain, I realized why. The men had arrived.

Neyuki had also noticed and to my surprise, her energy started to become focused. Bit by bit, her hands started to glow and the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand. Every thing in my being told me to get away as Neyuki's energy was untameable and dangerous.

Amaterasu did not seem to share my worry but instead watched the boys try to see though the illusion she had no doubt created. "Tsukino." My head looked down once more to look at my controller. "When the illusion falls we will fight and this time don't pull any punches. We need to win."

My head nodded and I wondered if she meant I was to use my spirit energy.

Seconds later, Kuronue's scythe cut through one of the glowing papers and the men entered the clearing. They had all their weapons out and were glaring at Amaterasu.

She wasted no time to chat and instead lounged into an attack that I followed. While she dealt with Hiei and Kurama, I fought Kuronue. He blocked each of my punches and kicks as if I was a child just learning how to fight. I'll admit I was a bit annoyed by this, but we were both caught off guard when my hands created my Shiro attack. Kuronue stepped back with a surprised shout and rubbed at his eyes as he tried to regain his vision. My body didn't wait that long and ignored the agony my soul was going through. She lunged with claws outstretched and attempted to rip his head off.

Thankfully Kuronue, like all bat demons, was used to working blind. Using his ears, he managed to dodge my attack and counterattack with his scythe as he took to the air. I dodged and quickly flew up to join him. My soul hit the bottom of my body as the pain grew, and I felt myself zapped of power.

Amaterasu had more control over me than I had thought but Kuronue wasn't as surprised as I was. He merely continued the battle and blocked my slashes with his scythe. Every once in a while he tried to get behind me, no doubt in an attack to knock me out, but every time I turned and attacked. It looked like I had learned my lesson. But I didn't see the lightning coming and only avoided being fried by Kuronue shoving me to the ground.

While my body continued to fight with the now broken-armed Kuronue, I turned my eyes towards Neyuki. Her hands were still glowing but little and deadly bolts of electricity jumped from her hands to whatever object was close by. More than once she nearly hit Amaterasu, although I couldn't help but wonder if Neyuki was trying to aim for her.

Deciding to try to follow her example, I try to concentrate. I picture all my energy as strings being tied between my mask and me. For a moment, I can almost feel each string being pulled towards my body as I start to imagine the strings being pulled back to me, to my control. The resistance I met was unimaginable and I could feel myself weakening. Then the ropes broke.

I fell backwards and hit the back of my body. At the same time, I was aware that my wings had changed back to normal and were bleeding. Kuronue had not expected the change and had cut though one of my wings. It was a small cut so I did not worry and instead turned my attention back to Neyuki.

Her power was hitting the limit, and she was now facing the objects. She stretched her arms out and pointed her palms at the objects. Her hands glowed so much that I couldn't bare to look at them anymore. Her body was filled with so much power that the leaves on the tree started to burn. A ball of lightning as big as a soccer ball formed in front of her hands. With a shout, she shot it towards the objects, but they weren't there anymore. The tree let out a scream as the ball hit it and flames appeared around the circle in that trunk that was now ashes.

It took everyone a second to figure out what had happened. The moment that Hiei appeared on the ground behind Neyuki, holding the objects, it all made sense. Amaterasu couldn't keep tabs on both Hiei and Kurama while she was fighting them, so while Kurama distracted her, Hiei ran for the objects, and got them out of Neyuki's range of fire.

Amaterasu let out a cry of rage and shouted for Neyuki to kill him. Before either of them could even blink, Neyuki lay on the ground. Her eyes were open but unseeing.

Neini screamed and ran towards her sister but I stopped her. Although I had no power over myself, I still felt sickened by my actions as I held my claws to her throat. Amaterasu started to laugh and ordered me to kill the girl if the men so much as moved.

I nodded and watched the men. Kurama was still as a statue but Hiei seemed to be considering making a dash for it. I didn't even think to look in Kuronue's direction. The next second, I felt a pain in my gut as Neini was ripped from my grasp. I collapsed to my knees and felt my throat burn as I threw up the remains of my last meal. For a few seconds, I continued to cough and spit as I tried to rid myself of the taste of acid and fruit.

I raised my hand to my mouth to wipe away the rest when I heard Neyuki cry out in pain. Forgetting about my weakened state, I jumped to my feet ready to help my friend only to see her throwing up, and Hiei looking down on her with a disgusted frown. Around that time, I felt to my knees again, and noticed that I wasn't looking through the eyes of a mask. I also noticed a few cuts on my body but I wasn't in any real pain. I was back.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one to notice. Amaterasu let out another cry of rage, and Kuronue moved to stand beside me.

"Think you can stand?" he asked.

"Enough to avoid getting killed," I replied.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that. Kurama is ready to take her down now that she can't just say, 'Tsukino drop dead.'"

I stared at him. Somehow I had never realized that Amaterasu could kill me at any second. His only reply to my staring was to grin and turn back to watch Kurama speak to Amaterasu. He said something about turning herself over or having him kill her. For a second she stared and then she started to laugh.

We all stared as we wondered what was going on in her head. I half wondered if she really did have some sort of other plan going on that we didn't know about. It wouldn't surprise me if she did but I couldn't understand the laughter. Finally, she calmed down enough to say, "Well at least your kitty bat will die too."

The blade came out of nowhere, and it was only thanks to Kurama and Kuronue's fast reflexes that the axe missed me. Kurama gently released his hold on me so that I could stand by him while Kuronue deflected the axe.

It continued on its new path pass Amaterasu where it seemed to kick up dust before returning to where it came from. There it was caught by a bloody Yasu. If I hadn't already thrown up, I would have then. One hand held his axe while the rest held his organs. The look in his eyes was half crazed but it was clear he was living on borrowed time. His breath was swallow and blood dripped from his mouth. He stumbled into the clearing and looked around at all of us.

Amaterasu either did not notice his condition or did not care because she merely nodded. "Nice to see that you could join us Yasu. Although you really should have stayed in the lair."

"So I could die." Yasu glared at her as he walked pass our group. "Since that's all I'm good for."

Amaterasu frowned. "Well that was the plan, wasn't it? Except I notice Kurama didn't finish you off right away."

"No, but the bat almost did. Thankfully he didn't."Yasu suddenly grinned and raised his axe. "See you in Hell!"

Amaterasu however was well and healthy. With virtually no effort on her part, she took a step to the side. Yasu missed but continued to try to attack her. Soon he was using two arms to swing the axe. I would have thought that the other men would have stopped the fight or helped attack Amaterasu but they only watched as Yasu continued to destroy himself in hopes of killing Amaterasu. However, Amaterasu was also slowing. Her movements became less graceful and stable. Finally, Yasu's axe landed a blow as he collapsed.

The female raccoon stared at the small cut in her leg with a scowl before turning to Yasu. "I would have thought that you'd have a better plan than that." With a flick of disregard she turned back to us. "Sorry about that interruption so I suppose you still want to try to bring me in?"

Kurama shook his head. "There isn't much point since you'll be headed there in seconds."

Amaterasu stared at him but her eyes were narrowed, as if she couldn't focus on Kurama's face. "What would make you say that?"

"Yasu's first target wasn't Tsukino-san, it was you."

She scoffed and tried to flick her hair over her shoulder but her arm seemed heavy. "Then his aim is worse than I thought."

Kuronue shook his head. "The attack completed its intentions. The dust that fell wasn't dirt; it was a poison that you helped along by dodging his attacks."

Hiei nodded. "Even a child could see that."

Amaterasu stared for a few seconds before she started to laugh. After a few seconds the laughter caught in her throat, and she started to choke on air. She clutched at her throat as her eyes started to bulge in panic. Finally she fell and stopped moving as her soul left her body and moved towards Spirit World.

After Amaterasu collapsed, Kurama went over to Yasu to see if he truly was dead. As he leaned over the body, I heard him mutter, "I warned you, Yasu," before standing and announcing that he was dead.

Kuronue frowned and sheathed his scythe. "I was hoping for a bigger battle but at least it's over."

"Not that you'd be much use," Hiei commented as he walked over with Neyuki and Neini.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You had enough trouble battling Kurama's mate. How do you expect you'd fare against a real opponent?"

Kuronue replied but I didn't hear what he said because Kurama had returned to my side and motioned to the artefacts in Hiei's arms. "We'd better get these back to Koenma before anything else can happen."

Hiei looked away from his battle with Kuronue just long enough to say, "I'll take them and if you're smart fox, you'll wait around here until Yusuke and Kazuma calm down. Right now the detective wants to kill you the moment he sees you."

Kurama smiled and thanked Hiei for the tip before he pulled his communicator out of his pocket to call Koenma and inform him of the outcome. While they talked I turned my attention to Neyuki and Neini.

"Sorry about dragging you into this," I said as I tried to think of something to say.

Neyuki shrugged. "How were you supposed to know that things would turn out like this?"

I shook my head. "I dunno, it's just that." My voice faded as I caught sight of Yasu's and Amaterasu's dead bodies. "Neini-chan shouldn't have seen this and you shouldn't have been brought into this."

Neini looked up with me with wide eyes and said, "But then we wouldn't have met you."

Neyuki nodded. "I agree and let's face it, the lives of demons may not be peaceful or pleasant but they sure aren't boring."

"But—"

Neyuki shook her head. "Forget it and you'd better call me the next time you get yourself into trouble." She glared at me. "Got it?"

Unable to do anything else, I nod. "Thanks."

She grinned. "Well I can't really leave your welfare up to the men now can I?"

I smiled and Kuronue wandered over to us. "Saying good bye?"

We shook our heads. "Just see each other soon," I replied.

He frowned. "Why? You two aren't going to spend the night at the lair?"

Neyuki frowned. "We're invited?"

Kuronue shrugged. "Well it's a bit late to find a bar and the kid looks like she's going to pass out."

As if to prove Kuronue right, Neini yawned, and Kurama made his way back to us. Hiei had disappeared, probably through a portal so we started to make our way back to the lair. Neini walked between Neyuki and me and held our hands. It made me wonder what it was like to have siblings but to be honest, I was happy just to be alive. The mission was over and I was free to live in Human World again. Soon I would be able to go back and see how everything had changed. Rei would have grown and hopefully had grown out of her hair pulling habit. Shizuru had apparently gotten a boyfriend while I was gone so I was curious to see what he was like. But most of all, I would be home and safe until something else happened.

Once at the lair, Kuronue found some mats hiding under his bed, and Kurama got some blankets. After a small battle between us girls and Kuronue, it was decided that we would once again steal his room, even though we tried to convince him to take it. Neini passed out seconds after we arrived and was quickly tucked in. We adults quickly joined her and within seconds the lair was silent and peaceful.

Neyuki and Neini left after that night but she left me with strict orders to keep her posted on what was happening with me and to mail her letters every week. I never thought I would find a true friend in Demon World but it looked like I was did. Neyuki was the best friend I could ask for and I wished that she didn't have to go but we promised to meet up at a later date so I wasn't too worried. Neyuki was tough and Neini was lucky to have her for a sister.

Soon after they left, Kurama approached me and told me of an interesting fact that Koenma had discovered. The humans I had killed on the roof were not actual humans. They were half-demons. "Half-demons must follow both Spirit World law and Human World law," Kurama explained when I confused as to how that mattered. "Since they are aware of Spirit World, it isn't as serious a crime as killing a human."

I frowned. "But killing isn't right regardless."

He nodded. "Yes, however, you were punished for killing humans when they were not human. Because of that Spirit World now has to make up for the mistake."

I nodded as I continued to watch Neyuki and Neini walk away. "So how will they do that?"

"By granting you a wish."

I turned to stare at him but Kurama didn't meet my gaze. "Koenma heavily suggested a soul transfer to a different body so that you wouldn't be plagued by the problems of being a mixed breed but he will wait until you are sure of what you want."

I could only nod and looked out from the entrance of the lair. One wish. I could understand why Kurama even mentioned the soul transfer but I didn't believe that changing my body would help me. My soul was the problem. I had a mixed breed soul but after being able to see my naked soul I didn't want to change it. Without it, I wasn't me. Although I might stand a better chance with Kurama if I changed myself but something in me held back. I only had one wish, and I wanted to use it wisely so I tried to think of a wise wish. Before I could, Kurama asked how I was feeling. I was a bit confused so I shrugged and said, "Fine."

He frowned. "You don't feel any pain?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Can you still sense our energy?"

I frowned as I looked at him, trying to understand his reason for the question, but I closed my eyes as I tried to concentrate. For seconds, I waited to feel the familiar sensation of leaves in the breeze that would be Kurama's energy. Nothing came to me. I wondered if my energy sensing method had changed because of the 'ropes' breaking. I remembered how Kuwabara felt for auras and tried to control my energy enough to cover the area around me. On my first try, no energy moved to my whims. A small bite of fear appeared in my stomach as I tried again. Nothing. I could feel myself becoming panicky as I continued to try. Finally, Kurama placed a hand on my shoulder and told me to stop.

My breathing was coming in pants as I shook my head and tried once more. Something was seriously wrong. My energy couldn't be gone. It just wasn't… natural! I opened my eyes and turned to face him, "What's wrong with me?"

He looked down on me with pity and sighed. "The strings that tie your body energy and your soul energy together have been cut."

My eyes widened and Kurama continued. "It must have happened when you were fighting Kuronue."

I nodded and tried to stop myself from doing something stupid. My hands were clenched in fists at my sides, and I tried one last time to summon my energy. Nothing. My energy was gone, locked inside me where I couldn't find it. Slowly, I became aware that Kurama was holding me in his arms. This time, I just let him hold me. After all what could he do now that my own soul was locked beyond my grasp? I might as well have been an empty shell and not even the knowledge that I would be returning to Human World could help. Maybe one day, I will find a way back to myself. Until then, I can do nothing but wander. However, I will wander among friends.

* * *

"You'd better come down before something attacks you."

He watched as she looked down from her place in the branches of the few none demon-eating trees he had planted. A small smile appeared on her face as she floated down beside him.

"I just wanted to think," she explained as she started to walk back to the lair with him.

He nodded. "About the wish or…"

She shook her head. "No. Just… life."

He nodded again but was unable to think of anything to say. Many things had changed between them over the time they had been left alone on the mission and he still wasn't sure what do to about her and him. He paused in his thoughts to help her past a few of the obstacles in the lair but they did not speak again until they reached the doors to the main sitting area.

"Kurama-san?" she asked. "What would you wish for?"

He paused and thought for a moment before saying, "Whatever would make me happy."

"What if you don't know what that is?"

She looked like a lost kitten and he couldn't help but smile gently. "Then wait and see."

Slowly a smile came to her face and she nodded as she walked pass him into the room. "Good night… Kurama-kun."

His smile grew slightly. "Good night Tsukino-chan."

It could be a mistake, but it also might not be and a small part of him hoped it wasn't.

Line+++

**A/N: Progress! At least to me it is since she has refused to call him Kurama-kun throughout this and the past story. He has finally moved up to the close friend rank. It sorta amuses me because Yusuke was at that in chapter 14 of SIWSM. Oh well. The story is over and I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. Just like the last time, I'm happy to just leave it here (maybe I lie) but I know you guys will throw a fit if I don't get them together. I am considering getting rid of the fluffy Kurama plotbunny though. I just don't know. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.**

**-d101**


	27. Next Story ID Number and Story Preview

**Hey,**

**After forever and a half, I've finally finished the Saving Me series. The ID for the final story is 7723337 and the title is 'As I Leave'. It's not a full length story but I hope you will read it and enjoy. Also because I cannot post the A/N alone. Here is a preview.**

**-D101**

Preview:

"Tsukino, hurry up! The movers will be here in three hours!"

The young woman turned to the sound of the voice coming from the hall. Her sad smile and brown eyes were framed by long black hair. "I've almost got this room packed, Kuronue," she shouted back.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll send Sakura to help you," he threatened.

Tsukino gasped in mock horror. "Then we'll never move out!"

A tall man appeared in the doorway to the room. "I think that's what you are planning anyways. I'll never understand what you like about this town." He added the last part as an afterthought and gave her a smile.

Tsukino just shook her head. "It's just the memories," she replied as she picked up some photos as she put them in the box.

The man shrugged. He looked at the picture in Tsukino's hands. It was of Tsukino and man with long vivid red hair and brilliant green eyes smiling at the camera; the man's arm wrapped around her. The man scowled. "Those times are over. You have to accept that and move on."


End file.
